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1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording and release of the new album?
BST: Well, there was a rather long time between the recording and the actual release of the album. Since we`re all more or less fathers and full time workers, the process behind the booklet artwork, videos etc took their time. It`s a good week since the release now and we`re more than happy about the feedback. I`ve been busy packing and shipping all the stuff and Simon has prepared the upcoming gigs. Feels good to be back after all, and the next record will hopefully come a little sooner.
2.Recently you have released a new album, musically how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
SMN: I didn’t really change my approach to writing the music compared to the last albums. One difference might be that I used a seven-string guitar on two tracks, which means a lower tuning (A standard). That’s something I want to stick with. Overall, I spent more time this time around picking the right songs and editing the song structures — like consciously cutting parts that might have been great on their own but just dragged the whole thing out unnecessarily. Or sometimes I’d just remove a melody line because blast beats, tremolo guitars, and layered screaming are already quite a lot for the ear — no need to throw a crazy guitar run on top... hahaha.
3.The lyrics on the new album cover the First World War, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in this topic?
BST: We are no war nerds and never dealt with these topics in greater detail. At some time during corona, we had the idea to record a short ep to kill the time and we started with TOTENVOLK, a song to comment on the rise of fascists all over the globe. Little did we know that this was just a shadow of darker times to come. As I continued writing lyrics we soon noticed that all these could be condensed on the background of WW1. …Blind rage, self destruction, agony, warmongery. So sometime in 2021 we decided to focus on this theme. Without a doubt, this conflict shaped our whole present. But you could pick every song and apply it to another period of time or another war and sadly: it will always fit.
4.What are some of the other lyrical topics and subjects the band has explored over the years with your music?
BST: Well, in the beginning we had a certain occult style…But with Maltrer this already started to change. The closing track, “Heimgang” for example is a hymn to regret, doubt and self hatred. If you wanna boil it down, it is all about doubt…There are no truths, there will never be the ultimate answer.
5.I know that the bands name is German/Dutch for 'Devastator', how does this name fit in with the musical style that you play?
BST: Haha 😀 if you don't feel devastated after listening to us, we will change our name! Joke aside: If you put it in english, devastator sounds like a run of the mill thrash band, but in german VERHEERER is a rather unique word, with a kind of medieval touch, at least for me. The “devastation” might have a different meaning if you ask some one else, but for me it has always been about a more spiritual devastation.
6.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented
on the new album cover?
SMN: The artwork was created under the impression of the ever-escalating spiral we’re witnessing right now. It’s a symbolic artwork that doesn’t reveal the album’s themes at first glance — but if you look closer, it actually does. Look, you’ve got songs about charging forward, attacking, or fighting until the last man, and the cover shows two stags locked in a rutting battle, agonizingly entangled, ultimately leading to their demise. The barbed wire is a symbol too — referencing the trench warfare of WWI. There are more little symbols hidden in there, but I’ll leave those up to the viewer to discover.
Another layer is its symbolism for everyday life: toxic masculinity, macho posturing, profit-at-all-costs — those things seriously piss me off, and I wanted to give that a place here.
7.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and
also how would you describe your stage performance?
SMN: Well, there’s not a lot of gimmicks with us — we just try to play as well as we can. Sometimes that’s easy, sometimes it’s not. One of the best shows was definitely Culthe Fest 2018 or Party.San 2017, but also stuff like our show with Fäulnis in summer 2017, or Berlin two years ago with Kavrilla and Shovel — that one was killer too. Honestly, every show is different and special in its own way — even the ones with barely any crowd, where you end up building a connection with every single guest.
BST: Yeah, i remember a show in Weimar in 2018 i think. Barely any people, but there was a young guy in the crowd who went totally insane, came to the gig afterwards and was a so happy maniac all the time, that it felt like a total success for me.
8.Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?
SMN: We just played a show with the new material and will play Culthe Fest in a few weeks, where we’ll also perform our first EP Archar in its entirety — simply because it’s celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. We’ve got more shows planned for autumn, but nothing really set in stone yet. We’ll see what happens...
9.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of black metal?
BST: Good I think. Orders from all over the world are coming in. Of course, our main base is still in germany, but hey, let them come!
10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
SMN: We’re sticking to our path and don’t really have any specific goals in that sense. What I can say is: while the intention behind Monolith was more massive and compact, and Urgewalt left more room for frenzy, the next album is going to be a lot more suffocating. How exactly that will sound? We’ll talk about that when the time comes.
BST: Off to uncharted territory.
11.What are some of the bands or musical styles you are currently listening to nowadays?
SMN: Phew, uh – pretty wild stuff. I’m listening to a lot of Sixties/Seventies stuff. I’ve grown to love The Beatles — they’ve become my absolute go-to music. When in doubt: listen to The Beatles.
I also recently got into German punk and have always been into post-punk. Of course, I still listen to a lot of metal and keep an eye on current releases.
When it comes to black metal, I’m a bit picky. It really has to be musically challenging — like very dissonant stuff or something that has a deeply occult atmosphere. I love bands like Cultes des Ghoules, obviously Katharsis, but also newer stuff like Necromaniac or the absolutely phenomenal Hexerei.
That kind of mindset also applies to death metal. I’d mention Black Curse, Grave Miasma, or of course Blood Incantation and Spectral Voice. The whole “blast-blast-gurgle-gurgle-guts-chainsaw-pain-pain” kind of metal just doesn’t do anything for me. And honestly, artwork and the overall theme of a release also play a big role for me — if that’s compelling, I’m much more likely to give it a shot. Naturally, anything made with AI-generated garbage like that Deicide nonsense is completely off the table and deserves zero support.
BST: Weird heavy metal, neofolk, and ambient stuff. Extreme metal wise, i`m a sucker when lyrics and and atmosphere of the albums come together. New Blood Incantation takes me into another dimension, Panzerfaust pounds me to dust and piss on my corpse, Hexenbrett make me raise my knife and sacrifice a virgin.. I don't care how fast the drummer is, how technical the guitars are…I`m a caveman when it comes to music.
12.Does Occultism play any role in your music?
SMN: Maybe it did in the past, yeah. Songs like Niederkunft, for example, are about a failed séance. These days, it’s less about the occult and more about the corrupted and doubtful aspects within the mind of every individual — that’s what shapes our lyrics now.
BST: The mind is a dark and terrible place. No need for ghosts and demons any more :-(
13.Before we wrap up this interview do you have any final words or thoughts?
BST: Onwards - To nothingness!
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