April 15, 2002

Whilst many Death Metal bands flirt with images of horror, for most it’s just used for effect or image enhancement. Few take their interest beyond the confines of a band set up – but Daniel Ekeroth, INSISION bassist and holder of a Master’s Degree in Cinema studies has taken his interest as far as having a book published on the Italian horror genre he loves so much. Titled ‘Violent Italy’ and available via Tamara Press, Ekeroth’s book provides detailed coverage of exploitation cinema, tackling such subjects as mondo films and spaghetti westerns through to the obscure delights of cannibal and nunsploitation flicks. Ekeroth explains his motives behind writing the book: "I studied Cinema at the University of Stockholm for several years, and together with a friend (also a collector, and with a masters degree) I decided to write this book about 9 months ago during some heavy drinking… We realised that no book that analysed the more obscure Italian genres existed…so – let’s make one! Genres like terror & nazi has seldom been described (if ever). We also were a bit pissed that most books about these kind of films are childlishly written by people who doesn’t care as much for the films as for the ‘gore & violence’." Despite his heavy schedule with INSISION, Daniel also finds time to contribute to Italy well-respected horror magazine ‘Nocturno Cinema’, and has also been the driving force behind the ‘Violence Film Festivals’ held in Sweden, that have attracted criticism from some Christian groups, protesting at the extreme content of the festivals.