What brought about the formation of DREADFUL FATE? Who or what instigated it?
"The whole started when things got complicated between Total Destruction (bass) and his previous band. He wanted to continue to write songs and go on releasing albums and such, but he couldn’t tour or play that many shows at all due to family commitments. The other guys in TD’s previous band wanted to do a final tour and then call it quits, so they did stuff behind his back and all of a sudden things got messy, so Mr Destruction went on and searched for other musicians to form a new group that could march on releasing and performing aggressive in-your-face Metal with the old school spirit. The very same second I heard that he was looking for new musicians I straight away reached out and told him that I was 100% interested to work with him and who ever else that he wanted to be in the band. Death Ripper (guitar) applied interest pretty much at the same time, so the three of us got together and started to work. After the first session we had already one or two songs written, so we knew straight up that this was something that all of us wanted to be part of. We searched and talked with several vocalists, but most of them ended up being too busy with their "main" bands. After a while I come to think about my good old friend Bestial (vocals), that I used to hang out with every now and then when I was still living in Jönköping. He told me that he was seriously interested, but that he needed some time to think and digest the idea, since he is living far away from the rest of us, as well as the fact that he is a family man and got a full-time job on top of that. He did however accept the gig and a few weeks later we met up and the rest is history. I knew that he would be a perfect match for the band, so from that moment we just kept on working hard."

How did you go about deciding on who to get involved? In what order did the members come into the band?
"As I said previously, the band was originally formed when Total Destruction (bass) was looking for other musicians, and found myself (battery) and Death Ripper (Guitar). After a month or so, after we had been searching for a vocalist, we found Bestial, who was the last and final member to join the cult. We’re all good old mates from waaaaaay back, I have known Death Ripper and Total Destruction for approximately 30 years, and Bestial for 20 years. All of us have been part of the underground movement for an eternity already, and we all know what we appreciate in a band that plays aggressive Thrash Speed Metal, we ain’t got the time or interest to mess around. So that was a huge part when looking for members to this band, we wanted reliable people who know what it’s all about, and fortunately enough we got ourselves a kick ass line-up including nothing but good old friends."

Did you have a very clear musical vision of how you wanted things to sound when forming the band?
"Pretty much anything that was done within aggressive Thrash / Speed Metal between 84-89. The stuff we grew up with, you know, BATHORY, SADUS, KREATOR, EXODUS, SLAYER, SODOM, VOIVOD, WHIPLASH, MOTÖRHEAD, METALLICA, DESTRUCTION, HOLY TERROR, ASSASSIN, DARK ANGEL, POSSESSED, CELTIC FROST etc etc."

Your style is very aggressive and raw, what feelings and things do you want to evoke with your music?
"Isn’t it obvious? Aggression and destruction of any form."

The band is named after an old song by MERCILESS who featured your bassist Total Destruction as a member for many years, why did you choose that name for the band?
"It suits the band just perfect, especially after the shit storm with his previous band. They didn’t end things on good terms or what-so-ever. It was such a dreadful fate, after 30 years of being a band together. Pure fkn shit, to put it mildly."

Your first recording/release was "The Sin Of Sodom" demo. How do you feel about that recording looking back on it now?
"It’s just a year old now anyway, not even that. And even though I’m considered old, I am not THAT old, that I have forgotten what happened a year ago haha. The recording was a lot like the process of songwriting and making this band come together, very spontaneous. We knew straight away what we were aiming for, not over doing things, not over-producing things. Plug in and let it flow. The demo was recorded in a day. We recorded it live, well almost, everything is live besides guitar solos and vocals. It turned out exactly as we wanted it, and to release our first thing on cassette was inevitable. The whole atmosphere and feeling for all of us was like we were back to square one, we’re 16 years old again. Let’s do this our way and just don’t give a flying fuck about what any other people think or say about it."

Your debut full length album "Vengeance" is due to be unleashed upon the Metal masses soon, please tell us a bit about this album in your own words and what the readers can expect from it? Are you satisfied with how it turned out?
"Satisfaction is not the word here, it’s more like a dream come true. This kind of music is exactly the kind of music that I have nothing but the outmost of passion for, period. I have been urging to play this kind of aggressive Metal since the day I was born more or less. Sure, I have been part of other bands of various styles of Metal in the past, but none of them ever come close to the satisfaction and completeness I feel when playing together with the freaks in this gang. It only took like 35 years or so, but I finally came home. "Vengeance" is a statement and proof of that. No remorse, no repent. 26 minutes of old school aggression including a long lost attitude and conviction that I haven’t heard for quite some time within the Metal underground."

How did you get involved with the labels who are releasing it? What formats is it going to be available on?
"At first we signed a deal for an album also with the same label who put out the cassette; Iron Fist Productions. But we felt early on that things weren’t moving in the right direction in terms of communication and various other things of importance, so we decided to break with them and started looking for other labels. A few weeks later we had a few serious offers and one of them came from I Hate Records / To The Death Records, two Swedish labels that we all knew had a killer following and a "know-how" when it comes to working with this kind of music. Plus that they are underground based, which is exactly what we are. They’re releasing the "Vengeance" albums on all the classic formats; LP, CD and cassette."

Why the album title? What does it represent to you?
"Vengeance. That’s what life is about, isn’t it? It’s about kicking back when your enemies think you are down for the count. The sweetest feeling of all is retaliation, to watch the creeps you dislike or simply couldn’t care less for starring at you with fear in the rear-view mirror when you pass them. FTW!"

What inspires you to put pen to paper lyrically? What subjects do the songs on the album deal with?
"It’s only love, it drives me crazy…. As ZZ TOP used to sing. Well, not really, I think by now that the readers can pretty much figure out that we ain’t no nice boys in terms of the music we perform. Lyrics are mainly about two things; Death and Hate. And to be honest, every poser and hipster out there inspires us to write more and more lyrics these days, such a great inspiration they are, with their nail polish and fashionable beards that smell of flower."

Who designed the album art? Did you have a cover design in mind?
"The art was made by a Finnish artist called Anu Bring. She did an amazing job I must say. The idea was more or less a band effort, but I think that Total Destruction came up with the basic idea at first, and Bestial also had some say here and there about things. He was also the one who made the layout for the album together with my good old mate Tomas Väänänen."

Where was the album recorded, mixed and mastered and why did you choose those locations and people?
"The album was recorded at the same location as where we did the cassette / EP last year, in a studio called CommuniChaos, together with engineer and owner Mattias "Kenko" Kennhed. He has also been around in the underground forever, both within the Metal, Hardcore as well as the Punk scene. His know-how about extreme music is just untouchable. I am a huge fan of his early work with bands like MACRODEX and HOUSE OF USHER. He also somehow manages to catch the atmosphere in the whole thing, the performance, the attitude, the personality… Everything is just there. So we might continue to work with him in the future, even though we would never be afraid of going somewhere else for that matter."

How is the DREADFUL FATE songwriting process?
"Usually Total Destruction and Death Ripper are the ones bringing most of the riffs to the headquarters, and then we all work together with the arrangements and so forth. Bestial also wrote one song for the album; ‘Hour Of Reprisal’, he is also the main writer lyrically, even though I had some ideas here and there as well. So we are all part of the process in one way or the other."

Who are your influences? What bands shape and fuel the DREADFUL FATE Death / Thrash attack?
"I did mention most of ’em previously in this interview, but since they are all worth your attention I will go through them again: BATHORY, SADUS, DESTRUCTION, SLAYER, POSSESSED, KREATOR, CELTIC FROST, VOIVOD, METALLICA, MERCYFUL FATE, ASSASSIN, HOLY TERROR, DARK ANGEL, PRIME EVIL, VENOM, MOTÖRHEAD, SODOM, EXODUS, MORBID ANGEL and just tons and tons of other killer acts. Of course we all love the classic Heavy Metal stuff as well, like JUDAS PRIEST, IRON MAIDEN, SAXON, ACCEPT, WASP, DIO, OZZY… and so on. What would life be without Metal, fucking nothing."

You have all been involved in the music scene for many years. What’s your opinion on the current Swedish scene? Any bands you recommend / feel an affinity with musically and attitude wise?
"I only come to think about NIFELHEIM, I believe they are the only band I really like these days and always come back to when I am feeling lost in music, all other bands are trying to change to be something they are not, or make stupid comments and statements to look / sound tough, but at the end of the day they are sitting at home masturbating to the latest SABATON. Lots of turds and posers out there."

How would you compare the modern Swedish scene to the golden era of the late 80s / early 90s? Is there any aspects you miss about the musical past compared to modern times.
"One of the things that I do miss is that back in the days you could look at a band picture and you could figure out straight away if they were any good. Nowadays bands try to look mean and angry and what-not, somehow retarded (which I actually don’t mind when I think about it, that’s better than looking like someone you’re not.) I had a blast back in the heydays when you could go to a show anywhere in Sweden and just hang out and have a good time, and making friends with freaks that were exactly as ugly and creepy as yourself, enjoying the same kind of music as yourself, and talking the same language as yourself. We were all young bastards that were looking for some fun and listen to loud Metal music, screaming stupid annoying words to posers and eating cheap kebab. We did however never really harm any one, we were a friendly bunch despite all the loud music and weird looks. In the more modern times it became a trend to cut yourself bloody and listen to Black Metal, beat up anyone who crossed your path and sitting in a dark room being psychotic. I don’t really mind that either, but I am not that kind of a guy. I’m not really that depressed after all, I guess. So the conclusion here is that the golden era was formed by a bunch of freaks that actually had a good life, a somewhat "safe" youth without any massive fuck-up’s or what-so-ever, while it later turned into a nightmare with people only feeling like shit and wanted to kill either themselves or others. This happened in only a period over not even ten years, so it was a quick evolution I must say. From the late 80s to the mid 90s. After that nothing was too brutal or extreme anymore, at least that is how I see it."

You are an active live band what can people expect from a DREADFUL FATE live show? Do you have many shows lined up in support of the album?
"I don’t know what you have been smoking when you say that we are an active live band? Especially since we have only been doing two shows in fifteen months or so, one at the festival House Of Metal in Umeå, the north of Sweden, and one in Göteborg, on the Swedish West coast, at the club Truckstop Alaska. Both shows have been good ones, good reaction and support from the crowd. We do not intend to play as much live as people in general think, and for various reasons. Most of us have kids, families, proper jobs, other bands etc etc. It takes alot of planning and re-scheduling to make things happen with DREADFUL FATE. Of course we take all options to play kick ass shows anywhere in the world under consideration, but the offer must be reasonable, otherwise it just doesn’t make any sense at all. Right now we have zero shows booked, planned or confirmed, so whatever we will do next only time will tell?!"

What other bands are the members in currently?
"Nothing as interesting as DREADFUL FATE."

What’s your opinion on the modern Death / Thrash scene?
"I believe I have talked too much on the matter already, if anyone doesn’t got it already they will never get it, so please, do yourself a favour and get the fuck out of my face."

The last words are yours thanks…
"Appreciate the chat and support. We have some shit for sale for those who like some nasty Music as well as gruesome merchandise. Feel free to contact: dreadfulfatebooking@gmail.com."

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Kat "Shevil" Gillham