Dargedik Rock Metal Webzine

 

Longevity in a band not only depends on the number of years active in a certain style but also because each album released causes expectation and transcends. This may be the case of this band who have been hammering with Death Metal since the eighties, although in so long they have only released five studio albums including the latest "Red Is the Color of Ripping Death" which was released last 27 of August. Nunslaughter are now: Don of the Dead on vocals, Tormentor on guitars, Wrath on drums and Detonate on bass, with Tormentor being the producer of the album and Don of the Dead the only original member of the band, after the death of drummer Jim Sadist. And it is precisely Don of the Dead who agreed to an interview taking advantage of the latest release.

Lee la entrevista en castellano en: Entrevista a Nunslaughter



DARGEDIK: Welcome Don to Dargedik webzine pages. It’s a great pleasure to talk with you about the band, this new album and more details into metal world. Starting, can you remember how was the idea to start Nunslaughter in 1987? And how do you feel after some time? How does your body feel? Can you still take a few more years of Death Metal?

NUNSLAUGHTER: Greetings my friend. The idea behind starting NunSlaughter was easy. The four of us were fans of this new type of metal called Death Metal. Where we lived there were no bands making this kind of music so we started NunSlaughter. 

I feel excellent and I am in good shape for a 51 year old. I try to take care of myself so I can keep making metal music. I am not sure how long I have in me but I want to do NunSlaughter until I am dead...or until I dont have the music in my heart.


DARGEDIK: At what point did you realize that Nunslaughter is the project that you dedicated all your life? And how is it that feeling to this day? Coz you are the brain behind all this.

NUNSLAUGHTER: It always seemed like a struggle to get the band going and to keep it growing. I just keep pushing the band forward and after 34 years it feel like we have momentum. It is exciting to see something that you have done all of your adult life have recognition. 

I would say I may be the catalyst for the band but the members past and present are responsible for a ton of ideas and helping keep NunSlaughter going.  


DARGEDIK: Linking with the previous question, what role did Jimmy "Sadist" play while he was in the band? And now after a few years of his departure, how do you feel when you need to find a new member for the band?

NUNSLAUGHTER: Jim was extremely important to keeping the band going. At the time he joined (1995) I really thought our Face of Evil demo might be the last material we would do. In 1996 I was moving to Florida and Jim suggested I come to Cleveland to record a Sacrifice cover song before I moved. I agreed and came up for the weekend. We ended up writing a new song INRI and recording an old one Power of Darkness as well as the Sacrifice song. It was released as a split w Bloodsick. 

Jim kept calling me and sending riffs to me while I lived in Hawaii. It was because of his persistence we wrote and recorded Hells Unholy Fire and a few demos and split 7"s. He convinced me to move to Cleveland to put more time into the band. 

Sadist was hard to replace but we now have an excellent drummer and entire line up. In the past guitarists and bassist were easy to replace because Jim and I wrote all the music. For the most part Jim would just tell the guitarists what to play. 


DARGEDIK: When did the desire to break the Guinness record for being the band with the most seven inches and splits released during their entire career born? How does this start?

NUNSLAUGHTER: Ha...I dont think we are there yet but it is nice that we were able to release so many records.  It was not the plan from the start it just kind of happened that we have such a large collection of releases.  I always liked when bands had lots to collect and with Jim it was easy to write and record music. 

I guess the best way to start is just get the first one recorded. Many bands talk about releasing music but may fail. Write and record as much as you can. You never know which day is your last.


DARGEDIK: If we enter to this subject a little, which of these editions is the one that has made you feel completely satisfied? Coz we know that many editions is with real worms, with different covers for each album, etc. Tell us?

NUNSLAUGHTER: I like our split 7" with Dekapitator . The sleeves were printed on black card stock and the ink was silver. It looks very cool together with the vinyl being glow in the dark and the bands are  killer too.

Another that comes to mind is Fuck the God in Heaven shape pic ep. The record is a real piece of art.



DARGEDIK: In the same way, you have taken the time to find out a lot of shapes with Nunslaughter logo. Which of these represents correctly the spirit of the band? Or each one has different meanings? 

NUNSLAUGHTER: Artists would just send us lots of different versions of our logo. I used so many logos over the years I am not sure which is my favorite.  Currently, we use 2 logos for different layouts. I think we will still to these two from now on.


DARGEDIK: On some CD you make a statement regarding Nunslaughter's music has No Overdubs, No Female Vocals, No guitar solos, No keyboards, No Pussyshit. And this is Death Metal made by Nunslaughter. So, after 4 LPs, haven't you ever felt that you need to incorporate something else into your music? And can you stick with your parameters and feel like you're making music that doesn't repeat itself?

NUNSLAUGHTER: I think when a Death Metal band introduces other instruments to the music it becomes less pure. NunSlaughter is one of the purest death metal bands in the world. We represent what death metal was in its infancy stages. I do not intend on changing that.

We can, have and will continue to make death metal in its purest form. 


DARGEDIK: What do it takes for a band to survive for so long in underground movement? What do you think of some current bands that hardly record anything and dissolve their bands in next months or years?

NUNSLAUGHTER: I think the bands that survive never intend to make a living at making music. It is difficult to live off your music and some bands when they make the realization they give up. I think that is why you have so many bands that reform after 20+ years. They go out and get real jobs and have a family. Then after so long they decide to reform and just make music for the HELL of it.


DARGEDIK: Do you have a spiritual side? Reading your lyrics, there is quite explicit content that you could say that you have a goal outside of the musical. To write the lyrics what are you read or what do you think? Have you had any supernatural experiences?

NUNSLAUGHTER: I believe in nothing. 

I do like stories that are creepy and unnerving. Dystopian and horror are most of the stories that I read / watch. When I was younger I watched lots and lots of horror and that is what inspired most of the lyrics. 

I want to believe in the supernatural but nothing I have ever seen or done has led me to believe there is anything mysterious in this world. I've gone in haunted homes and stayed at haunted hotels. I have performed rituals and called the beast into me. Nothing happens.


DARGEDIK: Now speaking of this new "Red is the Color of Ripping Death" I think you applied the Nunslaughter formula as we know it. But I also think we can already call it a straight vein Death Metal band without mercy and a lot of lethal doses of American style. How was the work to compose this album? And could we say "mature" to the sound achieved after production? What do you think of this new album?

NUNSLAUGHTER: We really took our time with this release. We have nothing to prove and we did not have a tour coming up so time was one our side. Writing the music came fairly easily with the guys in the band. They are very familiar with the older NunSlaughter songs and it just seemed to fall together. 

The sound and production of the album is all due to our guitarist Tormentor. He did an exemplary job on this album and introduced elements into the production that I really like. RED IS THE COLOR OF RIPPING DEATH has the sound that we have been looking for. After 34 years we have arrived.



DARGEDIK: I saw that in the next few months you’ll be playing live. So, I read that in the past it was very difficult for you to play live? And with the return of concerts, festival at the end of year or next year. Will you include new songs? Or when will be the live debut of this new album? Do you think that things have changed due to confinement times?

NUNSLAUGHTER: We were always scattered about the country or jobs was a real factor in not being able to perform. This is no longer the issue and we have prepared a killer set list for our upcoming shows. The band currently knows about 50+ songs spanning the entire NunSlaughter catalog. We usually do perform about 22 songs live so we switch it up a lot. 

We have 4 of the new songs on our list and can put them on out set list at anytime. I hope people take a very good listen to this album and want to hear some of the new songs at our live shows. Our album release show is on Sept 26th in Cleveland, Ohio.


DARGEDIK: Who was behind the cover art for this new album? Did you have something to do with the design or was an inspiration of the artist involved? Coz we know that in the past you did some arts, so are you still part of all these details?

NUNSLAUGHTER: The artist name is Guang Yang. We found him through Instagram and really liked his art and that he paints and does not use digital. He was the one with the idea for the album cover. I let him know the elements that we wanted to include like horns, fire, inverted crosses and sluts. He was able to incorporate that into the artwork. 

We wanted this art to stand out above the past albums. It is a new era for the band.


DARGEDIK: We know that “Red Is the Color of Ripping Death” is 7 years apart from “Angelic Dread” (2014) and this same situation happened with “Hex” (2007). For that reason, how many years are we going to wait for a new Nunslaughter album? And maybe you have some bands in mind for future Seven Inches? 

NUNSLAUGHTER: We did take our time with the past albums. NunSlaughter just kept writing music for split 7"s and we let time pass us by. We just finished recording a split LP with BLOOD. We have one other split LP to write and record and then we will start work on the next album. Hope to record that in 2022.


DARGEDIK: Deepen more with the last question. How do you choose the bands that Splits do? And recently you did one with a band from Peru, VLAD, what is your opinion of their music? Do you like listening new bands?

NUNSLAUGHTER: I absolutely love hearing new bands. Especially bands that keep  that sound for the 80's. I am not a fan of polished metal music and many times newer bands keep the production low and the quality of music high. 

Yes I like Vlad. I like all the bands we have done splits with. Sometimes we make a decision to do a split because the band plays a different kind of music than death metal and I think it is a good thing to cross over a fan base. Other times we choose a split because the band is in a part of the world that we have not touched. It is nice to have a release in different parts of the world. 

In the case of Blood we just had to do a split with these legends. We have been trying for many years and it is finally happening.


DARGEDIK: We know that you adapted over time to the new forms of promotion and dissemination of your material. What do you think of putting some songs on sale according to the taste of people where some do not get to listen to more than one or two songs of each album? Do you think this is the new normal?

NUNSLAUGHTER: I dont think to hard about that. We just make music and release it. We dont make money off the music so I how people get it or consume the music in not important. The important thing is that they listen.


DARGEDIK: Well Don, the end of this interview has come, I hope you enjoyed this one as I did. Thank you very much for your time and congratulations for the new album. Anything that you want to add and say to your Latin American fans and Dargedik readers?

NUNSLAUGHTER: We hope to have an expensive tour in 2022. Keep an eye out for us.

METAL IS DEATH DEATH IS METAL NUNSLAUGHTER DEATH METAL


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