Todesstrafe Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
To be honest, there's not that much to say about this band. Todesstrafe is our first serious band, a musical project that has been on our mind for a while and that we finally had the time to work on. We both come from a black metal underground, so it was kind of natural to develop in that direction, we just needed to find the right timing and the proper ideas. We started working on a demo of 4 songs, but then the ideas started flowing more fluently and we decided to go on for a full length. This is how “The Northern Hammer Returns” was born.

2.Recently you have released your first album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?
Well, I would say Todesstrafe it's simply primitive raw black metal with Hardcore/RAC elements. We mostly focused on feelings instead of technical playing, we wanted the core of the album to be straight to the point, a fist in the face. Many Black Metal bands sometimes lost themselves in million small details, we wanted to create something in the opposite direction, so what you can find is straight to the core music, the old way

3.Your lyrics deal a lot with War, Europe and National Socialism, can tell us a little bit more about what these mean to you?
I won't waste your time and mine saying the usual extreme things that lot of NSBM bands repeat to the infinite to impress their “musical target”, we don't care about being extreme on interviews because we are much more into the spiritual thing of this music and we mostly think music should speak itself. We are fascinated by war and what Third Reich represented to the story of humankind. War, discipline, courage, loyalty and what it is meant to be really extreme. Extreme in decisions, actions and the iron will of certain ideals, what is completely lost nowadays, like a primitive instinct of survival.

4.I known that the bands name means 'death penalty' in German, how does this name fit in with the
musical style that you play?
We chose “death penalty” as a band name because it represents a strong and drastic statement against traitors and spineless people infecting the world with their politically correctness. We are totally fed up of any kind of “correctness”. The world is not meant to be like this.

5.Currently there are only 2 members in the band, are you open to expanding your line up in the future, or do you prefer to remain a duo?
We prefer to remain a duo, due to technical reasons. But also because Todesstrafe is a very personal thing we share, and personally I would like to keep it this way.

6.The album was released on 'We Are At War Records', can you tell us a little bit more about this label?
When we recorded the album and we started to send out promos, it was Werewolf Promotion from Poland that suggested us “We Are At War Records”. Our album is their official first release, so no much to say. We as a band at our first release had not great expectations, but we liked the idea to start this “adventure” with someone that was starting too. “We Are At War Records” released our album in an elegant digipack edition with a special card, sticker and a paper with lyrics (in the limited edition only). The final result is outstanding and much more than what we expected, so we could not be happier than this. Hopefully we'll work together again in the future.

7.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of national socialist black metal?
So far, so good. The album is out since about one month but we already got few orders and who got the cd, loved it. Our personal and strict friends too.

8.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
We already started to work on a new album and the style is pretty much the same, I'm quiet sure the new stuff will sound exactly as our debut album. We like the music we made so far, so we'd like to keep it like “our style”. For sure we know we never invented something new, but we try anyway not to sound like a copycat band.

9.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
We have to pay homage to bands such as Ad Hominem, Capricornus, Der Sturmer and Aryan Terrorism. About musical styles, obviously Black Metal, some Death Metal and Hardcore. Our current playlist lately is ruled by “The Crowning Horror” from Pest, absolutely a masterpiece!

10.Does Paganism play any role in your music?
Surely we are not Christians or followers of some desert religions, we pay respect to the ancient cults which defined the identity of European folks. We totally respect our roots and our heritage.

11.What are some of your non musical interests?
As a major passion, I would define myself as a greedy reader. Then, we both enjoy to travel and visit new places properly, finding out about the local traditions, cultural roots and food. There is so much to see and to learn from travelling, it is a never-ending journey.

12,Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
If you are a fan of primitive “fist in the face” Black Metal, give Todesstrafe a chance. Don't waste your time on soulless Black Metal bands that have nothing interesting to say, support only activists, politically incorrect and sincere acts musical style that you play?
We chose “death penalty” as a band name because it represents a strong and drastic statement against traitors and spineless people infecting the world with their politically correctness. We are totally fed up of any kind of “correctness”. The world is not meant to be like this.

https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Todesstrafe/3540424916