2 days ago13 min read

篡位 - 瑞典Death Metal乐队Feral专访

说到瑞典的Death Metal想必大家都不会陌生，在瑞典出现了大批经典的Death Metal乐队，在全世界都是非常知名的乐队，今天我采访到的就是一支来自瑞典的Death Metal乐队Feral，组建于2003年的Feral乐队，由贝斯手Viktor和歌手David组建，最初取名为Valmer & Hook当时的风格定义为Black / Death Metal并且在2004 - 2006年发行了两张Demo，之后2007年乐队正式更名为现在大家熟悉的Feral名字，这也就是为什么乐队在资料里面写的组建时间是2007年，2011年乐队发行了他们的第一张正式专辑“Dragged to the Altar”，这张专辑发行之后便收到了很多音乐人的好评和歌迷的喜爱，随后乐队2015 - 2018年发行了两张正式专辑和一张EP专辑都受到广泛好评，也让他们一跃成为国际知名乐队，同时也收到了很多知名音乐节的邀请作为压轴乐队演出，今年乐队发行了他们的第四张正式专辑“To Usurp the Thrones”，在新专辑发行之际我也和Feral乐队的创始人之一的David取得联系进行了一次专访！

（V: 代表笔者 D: 代表David）

When it comes to Swedish Death Metal, everyone is no stranger to it, there are a lot of classic Death Metal bands in Sweden, which are very well known all over the world, and today I'm interviewing one of them, Feral, which was formed in 2003 by bassist Viktor and singer David. Formed in 2003 by bassist Viktor and singer David, the band was initially named Valmer & Hook and released two demos in 2004-2006, before changing their name to the now familiar Feral in 2007, which is why the band's profile states that they formed in 2007, and in 2011 they released their first album, Feral. In 2011 the band released their first official album ‘Dragged to the Altar’, which received a lot of praise from musicians and fans, followed by two official albums and an EP in 2015 - 2018, all of which were very well received and made the band internationally famous. This year the band released their fourth album ‘To Usurp the Thrones’, and on the occasion of the release I got in touch with one of the founding members of Feral David On the occasion of the release of the new album, I got in touch with David, one of the founding members of Feral, for an interview!

(V: for the author D: for David)

采访对象：David（Feral乐队歌手）

采访时间：2024.11.11

V: 你好David很高兴见到你并且非常高兴你能参与这一次采访。我认为这是你们第一次被中国的杂志采访，先给中国的粉丝们打个招呼吧。Feral在2003年成立，是一支有着悠久历史的乐队。是谁发起并组建的乐队呢？

Hello David nice to meet you and thank you very much for participating in this interview, I think this is the first time your band has been interviewed by a Chinese magazine, first of all say hello to the Chinese fans, Feral was formed in 2003 and is a band with a long history, who initiated the formation of this band?

D: 这确实是我第一次接受中国杂志的采访，我非常荣幸！这个乐队是由我和Viktor (bass)在那时候组成的，但那时我们没想那么多，我们当时只有十几岁，在学习乐器的同时，用鼓机演奏了一些非常简单和原始的音乐。

This is my first time being interviewed for a Chinese magazine, indeed. It is an honor! The band was formed by me and Viktor (bass) back in those days, but was very unambitious back then. We were only teenagers and did some really simple and primitive music with a drum machine while we were learning our instruments.

V: 你们以Valmer & Hook的名字出道，那时你们还是一个带有Black Metal风格的Death Metal乐队并且发行了两个Demo，但是在2007年的时候，你把你们乐队的名字改成了现在的名字Feral并且去除了Black Metal的元素，成为了一支真正的Death Metal乐队。你们成立于2007年，这代表着你们的重生，为什么你们要改变风格和名字？

You started out as Valmer & Hook, a Death Metal band with a Black Metal edge and released two demos, but in 2007 you changed your name to your current name, Feral, removing the Black Metal elements and evolving into a true Death Metal band. So you were formed in 2007 and this represents your rebirth, why did you change your style and name?

D: 在Valmer & HooK时期我们并不认真，它甚至不是一个合格的乐队名字，这仅仅是我的朋友叫我们的两个外号而已。而Black Metal元素也不过是我们画着尸脸弹着几首Venom的歌曲，那是的音乐比较像black’n’roll或者是death’n’roll。当我们最终将阵容扩大到一个完整的乐队时，我们需要一个合适的乐队名称，我们知道我们想要一些简短的名字，而Feral是可行的。

We weren’t very serious back when we were called “Valmer & HooK”, it wasn’t even a proper band name, just our two nicknames that our friends called us by. And the black metal elements weren’t really more than us wearing corpsepaint and playing a couple of Venom covers, but the music was always more akin to black’n’roll or death’n’roll. When we finally grew the lineup into a full band we needed a proper band name and knew we wanted something short and “Feral” was perfect.

V: Viktor， Sebastian和你都是乐队的第一代成员，其他两位成员在2008 - 2013年更换了成员，你们为什么更换成员，新成员是如何加入乐队的？你对他们的工作满意吗？

Viktor, Sebastian and you were all first generation members of the band, the other two members changed in 2008 - 2013, why did you change members and how did the new members join the band? Are you satisfied with their work?

D: Sebastian是在我们在乐队还没成型的时候玩的，十年之后，在Zonaria玩了一段时间才加入我们的。很长一段时间我们都只有一个吉他手，但我们一直想增加一个。在这张新专辑中，Sebastian贡献了几首非常棒的歌曲，他应该为此感到自豪。Roger已经在我们的乐队当了10多年鼓手了，而且总是做得很出色。我们都是老朋友了，这也是我们能在一起这么长时间的决定因素，我对这张专辑的结果和我们整个团队的工作非常满意。

Well, Sebastian was with us for a short time during our demo days and re-joined about ten years later after having played in Zonaria for a while. For a long while we only had one guitarist, but we always had in mind to add another to the line-up, and for this new album Sebastian has actually contributed a couple of songs that are really good and he should be really proud of. Roger has been behind our drum kit for more than 10 years now and always does a killer job. We are all old friends and that has been deciding factor for us staying together for such a long time as we have by now. And I am extremely satisfied with how this album turned out and our entire collective work.

V: 你们乐队的每个成员都是创作极端金属的经验丰富的音乐家，你们创作了很多经典作品，你能告诉我们一些你的创作过程吗？新专辑的创作过程如何？我相信你的创作经历会激励许多年轻的音乐家！

Each member of your band is an experienced musician in creating extreme metal, and you've created a lot of classics, can you tell us a little bit about your creative process? How did the writing process for the new album go? I'm sure your creative experience will inspire many young musicians!

D: 我们通常自己写，然后把将要完成的曲目呈现给乐队里的其他人。有时两个成员会合作一首曲目，但在这张专辑中，大多数歌曲都是独自创作的，除了“The Devouring Storm”是由我，塞巴斯蒂安和马库斯一起创作的。一旦粗略的歌曲完成，我们就开始排练，一旦我们对这首歌有了感觉，我们通常会作为一个集体做一些改变，比如增加独奏和移动一些部分，直到我们对其完全满意。

We usually write by ourselves and then present fairly finished tracks to the other guys in the band. Sometime two members will collaborate on a track, but for this album, most songs were written in solitude, except for “The Devouring Storm” which was written by me, Sebastian and Markus together. Once the rough song is finished we start rehearsing it and usually make a couple of changes as a collective once we have a feel for the song, adding solos and moving some parts around before we are fully satisfied with it.

V: 你们乐队每张专辑的录音都很出色，我喜欢你们的录音方式，你们都是在哪个录音室录制专辑的，哪个制作人制作了你们的专辑？新专辑的录制过程进行得怎么样了？

The recording of each of your band's albums has been outstanding, I love the way you record, what studio did you all record your albums in and which producer produced your albums? How is the recording process for the new album going?

D: 我们几乎所有的专辑都使用了相同的工作室和工程师，在我的家庭工作室录制了大部分的曲目，然后由Sonner Sound的Petter Nilsson进行混音和母带。但是我们在这张专辑中做了很多不同的东西。在一开始，我们实时录制了所有内容，没有任何多余的声音，我们没有为任何吉他配音或添加任何我们不能在舞台上做的事情。所以这是一张非常粗糙和诚实的专辑，一切都不完美，但它适合音乐。这一次我们想要的是一种更原始更恶心的声音，我认为我们做到了。

We have used the same studios and engineers for pretty much all albums, recording most of the tracks at my home studio and then having it mixed and mastered by Petter Nilsson at Sonner Sound. But we did a lot of stuff differently for this album. For starters we recorded everything live, without any click track, we didn’t dub any guitars or add anything that we cannot do live on stage. So it is a very rough and honest album, everything isn’t perfect, but it fits the music. We wanted to go for a rawer and nastier sound this time, and I think we achieved it.

V: 你们乐队的logo设计很独特，我很喜欢你们的logo，这个logo是谁为你们设计的？你的专辑封面也很独特，尤其是新专辑的封面我很喜欢，这个封面是谁为你设计的？

Your band's logo design is unique, I love your logo, who designed this logo for you? Your album artwork is also very unique, especially the artwork for the new album I really like it, who designed this artwork for you?

D: 这是我在16岁的时候自己做的logo。虽然我并不认为这很好，但他适合这个乐队。我们很久以前就考虑换掉它，但现在我觉得它已经很容易辨认了，我不觉得换掉它有什么意义。我不喜欢乐队换掉自己的logo，所以我也不会这样做。我们所有的专辑封面，除了第一张专辑，都是由Costin Chioreanu完成的。他是一位优秀的艺术家，并且和我们的风格非常搭，我们希望在未来也能继续与他合作。他完全知道我们喜欢什么，并使每个专辑封面很容易被别人注意。

I did our logo myself when I was 16 years old or something like that, I think it isn’t quite perfect, but it suits the band. We were thinking about changing it a long time ago, but now I think it is so recognizable that I don’t see any purpose in changing it. I personally hate when bands change logos, so I would not want to do it myself. All our cover art, except for the first album, has been done by Costin Chioreanu. He’s an excellent artist, with a perfect style for Feral, and we hope to continue working with him in the future as well. He knows exactly what we like and makes each Feral cover easy to spot.

V: 野兽、恶魔、死亡、宗教是你的一些音乐主题，你为什么选择它们，你想通过它们表达什么？你也写歌词，谁写的歌词，是什么影响了他们？

Beasts, Demons, Death, Religion are some of your musical themes, why did you choose them and what do you want to express through them? You also write the lyrics, who writes the lyrics and what inspires them?

D: 这些主题是在Metal Archives上列举的，但我并不认为我有确定的主题，我认为“历史，恐怖，宗教”可能更能概括我们的主题。我写了99%的歌词，有时Viktor也会给自己的歌写点。我喜欢编我自己的小恐怖故事，然后围绕它们创作歌词。我们的一些歌曲彼此之间有很小的联系，我认为对听众来说不是很明显，但对我来说，有一个总体的故事是很有趣的。其他歌曲的灵感来自历史或现实世界的事件和神话。

That’s what is listed on our Metal Archives page at least, but I wouldn’t say we have any particular lyrical theme. I think “History, Horror, Religion” would probably sum our lyrics up better. I write 99% of our lyrics, with Viktor sometimes contributing lyrics for his own songs sometimes. I like making up my own little horror stories, and working around them to form the lyrics. Some of our songs have small connections to each other, that I don’t think is very obvious to people who listen, but it’s fun for me to have an overarching story. Other songs are inspired by history or real world events and myths.

V: 你曾经和Transcending Obscurity Records、Cyclone Empire、Joe Black Records、Ibex Moon Records等大唱片公司合作过专辑，你是如何与这些唱片公司取得联系进行合作的？你对他们的工作满意吗？

You've released albums with Transcending Obscurity Records, Cyclone Empire, Joe Black Records, Ibex Moon Records - all great labels, how did you get in touch with these labels to collaborate? How did you get in touch with these labels to work with them? Are you satisfied with their work?

D: 根据我的经验和一个厂牌合作通常是和他们内部联系开始的。这几年我在金属圈遇到了很多的乐队和朋友，如果你是一个真诚的人，绝大多数都会愿意帮你。每当我们和一个厂牌合作的时候，我都会和那个厂牌的乐队先交流一遍，听听他们乐队的和厂牌合作的经历。beyond Obscurity在我们最近的两张专辑中都做得非常出色，到目前为止我们与Crawl的分裂也没有什么可抱怨的。

Finding a label, to my experience, is usually done by having contacts within them. Throughout our years we have met and befriended a lot of other bands and people within the metal scene, most people are very helpful if you are just genuine guys. Whenever we have contacted labels we have spoken to the bands signed to them beforehand to hear what their experiences have been working with that particular label. Transcending Obscurity has done a killer job with both our most recent albums, and the split we did with Crawl, so far, so there is nothing to complain about there.

V: 首先祝贺你今年发行了最新专辑“To Usurp the Thrones”，到目前为止我只在网上听到了几首Demo，但我对你的作品印象深刻，节奏紧凑，旋律紧凑，鼓同样凶猛。对于一支忠于老派音乐方法的乐队来说，你们有一种非常独特的节奏构建方式，这些短暂而残酷的重复片段在保持一些老派氛围的同时，又具有足够的侵略性，你对你的作品有什么想法吗？相比之下新专辑有什么变化吗

Firstly, congratulations on the release of your latest album ‘To Usurp the Thrones’ just this year, I've only heard a few demo tracks online so far but I'm impressed with your work, bursting into life with monolithic rhythms and tight melodies, and the drums are equally ferocious. For a band that stays true to the old school approach to music, you guys have a very unique way of constructing rhythms, these short, brutal riffs have just enough aggression to be aggressive while still holding some old school vibes, do you have any thoughts on your work? Has the new album changed at all compared to the old one?

D: 我们对自己的音乐感到很满足，我们从不试图胡编乱造一些东西，许多乐队尤其是Old School Death Metal圈更喜欢有一个炫酷的吉他和简单上口的Riff，但我们不想做的像这样。我们的歌曲是经过深思熟虑和精心策划的。我们要让每一个即兴片段都有价值。我不会说我们的音乐在任何方面都是技术性的，但我确实相信额外的努力表明。

We take a lot of pride in our music, and never try to just “throw something together”. A lot of bands, particularly in the “old school death metal” scene seem to just lean on having a cool guitar sound and a couple of simple catchy riffs, we do not want to do it like that. Our songs are very thought through and meticulously planned. We want to make every riff count. I wouldn’t say our music is technical in any way, but I do believe that the extra effort shows.

V: 你的乐队参加过很多音乐节，哪些给你留下了深刻的印象，你能描述一下当时的气氛吗？

Your band has played a lot of festivals, which ones have impressed you and can you describe the atmosphere?

D: 在瑞典北部Umeå举行的House of Metal音乐节总是令人愉快的。他们已经办了很长时间，知道如何招待乐队，是真正的专业人士。这是一个室内节日，更有一种大型家庭聚会的感觉，简直太棒了。

House of Metal Festival in Umeå, north Sweden is always a pleasure to play and visit. They have been going for a long while and know how to treat bands and are true professionals. It’s an indoor festival and has more the feeling of a huge house party, it’s simply great.

V: 除了发行新专辑，你们今年还做了什么新事情？当然我相信你会在很多音乐节上演出来宣传你的新专辑。

What new things are you guys working on this year besides releasing a new album? Of course I'm sure you'll be playing a lot of festivals to promote the new album.

D: 我们希望能有更多的演出，实际上我们已经在创作新音乐了。我们通常在每张专辑之间有相当长的时间间隔，但早点开始创作总是有益无害的。我们将在新年周末与瑞典北部的KVAEN一起演出，我们非常期待。

We are hoping to play some more shows and we are actually already working on new music. We usually have quite a long time between each album, but it never hurts to get working early. We will be playing a how show with KVAEN in northern Sweden on the New Year weekend, that we are very much looking forward to.

V: Feral是一个很棒的乐队，我是你们的超级粉丝，我会一直支持和关注你们的乐队，最后你想对你们的中国歌迷说些什么？

Feral is a great band, I'm a big fan of yours, I'll always support and follow your band, what would you like to say to your Chinese fans at the end?

D: 我们要感谢大家的支持！这对我们来说意义重大，我们希望新专辑“To Usurp the Thrones”不会让我们失望！干杯!

We want to thank you all for the support! It really means a lot to us and we hope that the new album ‘To Usurp the Thrones’ does not disappoint! Cheers!