Hi Perra – what’s up? Have you done any drinking sessions with your NOMINON bandmates this weekend so that you can rush with an headache into this interview or are you just playing drums as often as possible for the tour preparings of your other baby IN AETERNUM?
"Hell Satan! Yeah, of course I had time off for some drinks (as usual, more or less) last Saturday night. Four out of five NOMINON guys went to a local bar and joined a Metal meeting with other local Metalheads, for example Cabbe (ex – Hypnosia, now in Obscuritas), Emil (ex – Nominon, now in Marduk), Nicke (ex – Nominon, now in Thy Primordial), David and Rickard (The Legion) and some other friends from here. We all had a splendid time and crushed some beers and listened to some of the greatest Metal music of all time in the speakers!! Besides this we rehearsed two-three hours a day with NOMINON, this was actually the last rehearsal hours before NOMINON will go on stage on the Fuck The Commerce festival. We have scheduled a 45 minute set with songs from all the NOMINON releases, but mostly from the brand new album “Recremation”. Besides this I am, as you mentioned, also preparing for a long time away from home (April 9th to May 17th)."

Some people still quote the 1998 “Diabolical Bloodshed” from NOMINON as the best work of the band so far… it’s a really violent and rough Death Metal assault with a huge Thrash impact and dirty shredding Sunlight touch, probably the kind of recording quality someone might have missed on the demo, 7”EP and MCD releases in between, or what would you say? How much work and dedication have you put into the upcoming second full length that will be entitled “Recremation”? Do you think that this release will optimize everything what NOMINON has done so far? Tell us all necessary details like studio etc.
"I think I can agree with you that people might think that the production on the MCD “The True Face Of Death” and the 7” EP / Cass-EP “Blaspheming The Dead” is not good at all to a certain point, but still, NOMINON did all the work with the production on these releases, and believe me, it’s bloody hard to achieve a perfect sound in just a small local studio without a skilled sound engineer. NOMINON was not working with any bigger labels at the time that could provide the band with cash for a better production. So, for the survival of NOMINON we had to do our best and therefore we recorded, mixed and mastered all the stuff by ourselves. The production is gruesome and extreme, and to a point I think that this is pretty much as “true underground” as it can be. Of course we would have liked to work in a proper studio, but as I said, no labels were interested, so what to do? On the other hand, if we hadn’t recorded these simple recordings by ourselves I am pretty sure that we would not have been contacted by Konqueror Records at all. So I guess they did some good after all. Now we have recorded a brand new full-length album in a good studio (Necromorbus) with a engineer (Tore Stjerna) who is as much into the NOMINON music as the band members themselves, which of course helped I can assure you. We spent ten days in the studio for the recording, mixing and mastering. So far I can understand that people choose “Diabolical Bloodshed” as their favourite NOMINON album, but when they listen to the new album they will have a hard time to decide which is NOMINON’s best work till today?!! Because the people and freaks that have heard the forthcoming “Recremation” album have been stunned, first for the production and then crushed by the material and performance of the band. NOMINON is back for vengeance, and this time it’s fucking PERSONAL! We have put a lot of time and effort in rehearsals for the album and the funny thing is that just two weeks before we entered Necromorbus Studio we picked up a second guitarplayer as well, in shape of Christian Strömblad. So as you can imagine, we worked our asses off to make it become as powerful as it is. The release date for the album is set to late April for the CD (Konqueror Records) and pretty much at the same time for the 12” LP version on Blood Harvest Records."

In Autumn 2004 you did the first real full European tour with British oldschool Death Metal veterans BENEDICTION and your landmates GODHATE. Was there a huge kind of excitement before that tour and how have you managed it financially? I guess Nuclear Winter Records is too samll to pay any $ for a kind of tour support – right? Was it worth the decision and how was the taste of touring life on the road? By the way how went the shows in the more exotic Metal countries like Slovenia, Hungary and Croatia / Bosnia – was it chaotic there concerning venues, audiences etc.?
"This first “real” European tour was of course very exciting for NOMINON. When we agreed and said “Yes!” to the tour it was only two members left in NOMINON, it was me and the only remaining original member; Juha Sulasalmi. We had three months or alike to get NOMINON together again. So, call us ignorant and stupid, but I just had the feeling at the time that we would manage to get a full line-up and make it happen in time! And so we did! In June bassist Joel Andersson joined in and a month later vocalist Daniel Garptoft become a member too. So we rehearsed a 40 minutes set and in mid September we were all ready to go! Due to the fact that we were more or less a new band, I guess we didn’t think that much about the excitement for the tour, of course we were all thrilled about doing a proper tour with a nightliner and all but I would like to point out that the members in NOMINON are adults, so maybe we didn’t really feel that fear that younger bands would have felt. We had an opportunity to choose to go either with DISMEMBER or BENEDICTION, but we chose the BENEDICTION tour because we felt more comfortable with that tour, plus that it wasn’t as long as the DISMEMBER tour. NOMINON had played a few shows as support to MASTER in the spring of 2004, so we pretty much felt that we had to take the next step in playing with legendary bands… And BENEDICTION was the right answer to that question. The tour was called “Thunderstorm Over Europe, Part 2”. We played 16 shows in 17 days, which was perfect. The day off we had was more or less a travel day (as usual!) from Germany to Czech Republic anyway, but who cares?! We played in Germany, Czech, Slovakia, Hungary, Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and Austria. All the shows were ok, but the ones I personally remember the most is Trnava in Slovakia, Sarajevo in Bosnia and Belgrade in Serbia. Really crazy freaks all hungry for some true Metal. The response was great and we met a lot of great people, and I guess that we more or less figured out that NOMINON really stands up just as good as for example BENEDICTION. In general I guess it was around 250-350 visitors at each show, which is really good if you ask me. The promoters in the eastern countries treated the bands with a lot more respect than in countries like Germany, Sweden and alike, where bands are playing all the fucking time, they are spoiled without dealing with it. We would like to go back any day to the eastern block and play. I personally knew GODHATE (ex – Throneaeon) since way back in the ‘90s, so that was just great to finally meet them more than just twice a year or so. About BENEDICTION as human beings; because that’s what they are even though there are one of the earliest Death Metal bands in Europe, they are human beings. And like you and me they should be treated with respect, and if they are cool then you are supposed to get the same kind of respect back. And believe me, that happened, we became very good friends. Even though I hardly couldn’t believe it would happen at all the first days on the tour, due to silly behaviour and so on. But anyway, they changed a lot after a few days together with us and I still chat with Darren (guitar) and Frank (bass) from time to time, even Dave (vocals). I miss the contact with Peter (guitar) though, I guess I just have to give him a call someday soon! About the financial side of things, of course you are right about that Nuclear Winter Records was / is not able to pay any tour support or something like that at all, but NOMINON signed with Konqueror Records late May 2004, so we got a 35% tour support from them, even though the album wasn’t recorded or released, or that we had a full line-up for that matter (remember, it was only me and Juha in NOMINON, at that time). The rest of the money we paid by ourselves, and sure we might have lost a bit of cash, but we sold some merchandise on the tour as well, so it wasn’t really any huge amounts anyway."

How did you get along with the British humor of BENEDICTION? They are known to be a really hard drinking band… were they easy to handle people? By the way what about Bruchstein Tours? It seems like you have a pretty good relationship with them, cause you’ve also did some roadie jobs for them, too!!! Do you like this kind of work and what about having Paul Speckman from MASTER as partner besides on tour, ha!
"After a couple of days we got along so bloody well, they still tell me that I am the most “insane” Swedish dude they have ever meet, and believe me they are not the only ones saying so. We pretty much have the same kind of humour, so there was never a problem with that. Sure, they are hard drinkers and hellraisers, but we were all getting along very well, so there wasn’t any problem besides once when there was a missunderstanding between the GODHATE and the BENEDICTION guys on the nightliner, but that’s their story. The tour with BENEDICTION was the second time we worked together with Bruchstein Tours. The first time was earlier in 2004 when we did those MASTER shows in Sweden that I mentioned earlier in the interview. And sure, Paul Speckmann is more like a brother to me than my own “real” brother, I see Paul more often than my real brother and he is much more my type of guy, if you understand what I mean. We get along well and sometimes if we argue about something that we don’t agree about, we usually solve the problem right there. I asked Jörg of Bruchstein if they needed help on any of the coming tours, while we were at the BENEDICTION tour, and he said “maybe”. So in November I joined DISSECTION and WATAIN for a month on the road in Europe, as co-tourmanager together with Jörg. Then in January this year, 2005, I did my first own mission as a tourmanager for the European tour of IMPALED NAZARENE with supports from YRRKOON and PHAZM (both bands from France). That tour went very well and the bands, clubs and Bruchstein were very pleased with my work as tourmanager, so I guess I can expect a lot of work if I want to in the future. We’ll see how much time I can afford to spill on working as tourmanager, you know, my priority is to play drums with the bands I am involved in. It’s the same here as with the BENEDICTION guys, I am still in touch with IMPALED NAZARENE, we became brothers on that tour. I love them all! My next stuff I will do for Bruchstein is the reunion tour for ten dates in Europe with the original line-up of TESTAMENT. That will be a hard experience, but so far I can only imagine about it. I mean, they are like old heroes of mine and I just hope that they are nice people even though they are old in the game. That tour starts the day after we play the Fuck The Commerce festival in Germany with NOMINON."

NOMINON was always signed to total underground labels like X – Treme Records, Nuclear Winter Records… and now you’ve signed with Konqueror Records from Singapore for the coming 2005 album… I know that Andy – the freak behind Konqueror Records – is a pure Swedish sound lunatic. Isn’t it crazy to meet someone like that in an Asian country? Do you feel comfortable with that underground label reputation? I mean you pretty much seem to have a kind of “do it yourselves” attidude in terms of promotion for the band? Is that ok for you or would you prefer to work on a more professional base?
"I am glad that people finally seem to understand what NOMINON is all about. Just when you mentioned the meaning – “do it yourself” attitude – I got really warm inside! I mean, let’s face the fact here; NOMINON’s music is meant to stay underground. Even if NOMINON would sign to a better known label or something, NOMINON would still play those small clubs and write those sick Death Metal riffs, the music and dedication would not change. Also, Andy is by far the most serious business representative that I have worked with as a musician. He doesn’t just promise a lot of stuff, whenever he says that he will do something… He WILL do it, either it’s about putting out a CD, t-shirt, advertisment or other business related stuff. I like his genuine dedication to Death metal and what he has done for NOMINON is more than enough so far. If he asks us to do another album after this one, I am sure that we would take it under consideration more than if any other label showed interest. One more thing, it’s funny that you mention Andy to be a freak from Asia, I never ever thought about him that way. I guess you are absolutely right in a way, but I don’t really care where people come from as long as they have the same kind of interest and attitude as myself."

I always expected Joel Andersson from IMMERSED IN BLOOD to be a total US style Death Metal freak, so how many beer injections has he needed to be convinced to pick up his bass for NOMINON to play some Swedish oldschool Death tunes? I guess he was pretty frustrated about the situation of having no drummer wit IMMERSED IN BLOOD?
"First of all, Joel doesn’t drink alcohol, so forget that he joined NOMINON after a certain beer injection. Well, it was me who brought up his name when NOMINON were missing a bassplayer. Because I’ve known Joel since 1991, which is 14 years, and he has always been a very commited Metalhead in his previous bands like EXEMPT, INVERTED and more recently IMMERSED IN BLOOD and with his record label. Remember that his label X-treme Records released the first NOMINON album “Diabolical Bloodshed” in 1999, so I think that he like the band A LOT!! You are right that he’s got a very close relationship with the new school US-Death Metal, but I know that he also appreciates some older stuff very, very much as well. Also, IMMERSED IN BLOOD now got a drummer as far as I know, so they might be back for another attack soon enough!"

Wow, it seems that NOMINON are one of the biggest fans of the good old b/w artworks of French maniac Chris Moyen? I mean nearly all NOMINON releases since 2003 have artworks by his Thorncross Design. For me he is one of the optic symbols of real oldschool cult stuff. I always think of the BEHERIT covers, the INCANTATION 7” EPs etc. – he did some real classic stuff, or what do you think? Does he draw after your inspiration or do you give him free hand? How have you handled it for example with the 2005 album?
"I guess that we have something in common then, I mean, who doesn’t appreciate Chris Moyen’s artwork and call himself a oldschool Death Metal freak at the same time? Sure, he has done a few classic underground images, but the most important thing of all why we work with Chris: he is a NOMINON fan!! We always appreciate to work with artists and people that understand what we need as a Death Metal band. We always give Chris a hint of what we are looking for artwork-wise, and sometimes he delivers right up what we want, and sometimes we give him some further descriptions on how things could look more brutal and stuff like that, it’s a question of compromise you know. It’s the same for the layout matter, we choose to work with Timo Ketola for the CD-design again (Timo did the 7” EP “Blaspheming The Dead” and “The True Face Of Death” gatefold 12” MLP for us earlier), because that guy is a Death Metal layout genius. He has worked with and done covers for the likes of KAAMOS, MARDUK, MURDER SQUAD, WATAIN… etc and I have been a friend of his since fucking mid ’90s anyway. He was on the road with me on the DISSECTION / WATAIN tour last November, selling merchandise, and I can assure that we had some great time together! It wouldn’t surprise me if we works with the same kind of people next time around as well, because, as I said; they are just as much Death Metal freaks as you and I."

Perra – you’re the oldest member in NOMINON and when I look at your previous activities it seems that being an active part in the scene has been one of your highest passions, or what would you say? I mean besides NOMINON, IN AETERNUM and NIFELHEIM you’ve already played in SUFFER, ALTAR, SERPENT, you’ve did an own fanzine called Mould Mag and you did several releases via Heathendoom Records… you must be fucking CRAZY, ha! I mean you’ve seen a lot of changes within the scene within all that time, so do you have a kind of nostalgic feeling if you look back on all that or are you more a bit disappointed about the way some things turned out? By the way in such a long time I guess you easily managed to collect some really cool rare items back from the early Death Metal days – don’t you?
"Well, what can I say about that? Thanks… It always strikes me when people bring up those old bands of mine. You know, I can talk for hours and hours about old fucking stuff like SUFFER and WORTOX / ALTAR and so on. And yeah, call me crazy, I’ll still be doing this as long as I live. There’s no turning back! I’ve reached the point of NO return many, many years ago I’m afraid. Ha ha!! First, I am not the oldest member of NOMINON, the only original member is Juha Sulasalmi, who started this evil entity named NOMINON back in 1993. Juha is also the oldest member, because he is one year older than me, so I don’t know where you have done your research? Ha ha, because it’s all white on black on our website. Even Joel is two weeks older than me, actually. But it doesn’t matter, I think I can talk for the rest of the guys when I say that Death Metal bands of today are more or less boring, and a guess of mine is that most of the bands won’t be around next year. Death Metal is meant for people who have a certain taste of extreme and brutal music with no limitations, really. I mean, listen to some of the stuff that I do behind the drums, they are too progressive for the regular Metalfans, they can’t stand it, and that’s because that they do not understand it. When we as a band compose the music, new material so to speak, we don’t actually sit down and say… Hey, let’s do a commercial song so we can sell more records. Ha ha, that’s lame if you ask me and if a musician / artist thinks like that, then he / she definitely got huge loss of IQ. This is also one of the reasons why I can cooperate so well with Juha, because we learnt about that already in DION FORTUNE (which we both played with during a few months 1995), we don’t hold back for almost anything… NOMINON is much about that musicwise, Juha and I jam at the rehearsal place. He seems to have this unconscious way of understanding me as a drummer. Recently I told him that I have been creating some drum rhythms that we might be usefull for some new NOMINON stuff, at first he seemed a bit suspicious but after I have described what I meant he changed his opinion about the whole thing, and that is what I love about him. Never hold back your creative side!! If you got a fucking brutal beat, who is there to tell you that "Hey, I write the songs on guitar, so fuck you! That’s how we’ll do it here!!“ With that kind of attitude I would end up in a fight before the day is over. For example, take a look at MORBID ANGEL, they are the masters in writing complex Death Metal songs. No other band is even near to be as creative as them when it comes to writing different and special kind of Death Metal. Their riffs and beats are so fucked up that it’s godlike, you know. Yeah, I used to run some Magazines / Fanzines, Recordstore / Recordlabel… bla, bla… But it’s now all in the past and it’s not that often that I have the time to think back in time when I used to do that kind of stuff, mostly because I guess I don’t remember it all. Ha, ha… I was a huge drinker at some points, and at some other periods I didn’t drank at all. I am just glad that I could get out of the recordstore during 1999, because that fucking store and all the work behind it nearly KILLED me, as I was all alone doing everything at the end."

By the way how do you finance your crazy passion for Metal? Do you currently have a regular job and what kind of profession have you learned? You know, unfortunately life is not Rock’n’Roll all night long…
"I am a bit fucked up, you know, so right now I don’t have any job besides working for Bruchstein every now and then. When I am in Sweden I have this unemployed insurance payment kind of thing. I am not rich at all, but I survive. I used to be driving busses at night in the capitol in Sweden, Stockholm, for a couple of years, but I decided to move from there as I ended up in a very complicated situation due to kidney failure, I pretty much had nowhere else to go then to move to Jönköping as I have a lot of friends here. I am glad I did because otherwise I might have quit playing drums and just have had nothing to do, I mean, when you are sick for REAL you don’t really have that high level of self-confidence. The guys in NOMINON helped me so much to get back to a more “normal” life, even though I was a bit depressed and seriously ill and had to do dialysis four times every day for 1,5 years, thirty minutes each time. NOMINON even played a couple of gigs during that period here in Sweden. When you think about it, it sounds insane to play such as brutal music when you are half-dead, but it surely didn’t stop us, or me in particular. During July 2003 I went through a surgery, a kidney transplantation, and since then I have just worked even harder to get well and most of all, worked harder to play drums and stay active in the Death Metal scene. I have been into so many situations in life so it is just pure insanity to think about it, so for me, I don’t care so much about the regular things like most people do, like for example a daily job, a relationship… etc. Ain’t got the time and interest, and I haven’t found a lady worth it yet either!"

It seems like you’re pretty much the oldschool type of freak in terms of musical taste, so how do you handle it with new acts? I mean Sweden is so packed with all kinds of acts in several styles… do you feel delighted about acts like KAAMOS or VERMINOUS that keep the oldschool flag high ? Have you ever cared for example about the commercial success of bands, for example SOILWORK or IN FLAMES?
"This is a returning question we’ve been asked pretty much lately, especially from people in Germany and the South of Europe. Actually I am not sure if I fully understand this question, but here is the answer I can / feel like giving you. It’s strange that you really care so much about these kind of bands, none in my circle of acquaintances cares too much about bands like SOILWORK and IN FLAMES for example, even though I am a good friend of Dirk, the drummer of SOILWORK. He’s a godly drummer and I respect him very much for his dedication to Grind and Death Metal. I also know Jesper of IN FLAMES a little tiny bit, he is also really into the old Death Metal stuff. But as you mentioned in the previous question, we all have to earn our money somewhere, some do it as bussdrivers and some do it as drummers or guitarists, even though they don’t like playing the music they actually play it’s still a better and funnier way to earn your paycheck by touring the world and play the instrument that you love, then to drive a fucking bus. I don’t even consider none of the mentioned band of the two as Metal bands nowadays, it’s too much of a commercial side of things there going. Still, I can understand why they keep on doing what they are doing. Of course I am more delighted to talk about the other bands you mentioned, KAAMOS and VERMINOUS. I mean, there you have it. Actually, I became very surprised when I listened to the latest KAAMOS album "Lucifer Rising“, because it sounds a bit similar to what NOMINON is doing, and here we are both of us at the same time, 2005. It’s a mystery to me!! I love KAAMOS, it is the best Death Metal band in Sweden since the mighty GROTESQUE, or maybe since MEGA SLAUGHTER. On the other hand, I have a hard time to understand why bands such as AMON AMARTH is so big in for example Germany!? That is another mystery to me. They are releasing album after album and still haven’t convinced me that much, especially not as much as the rest of Europe. Nearly nobody I know in Sweden that listens to Death Metal is listening to AMON AMARTH. They are really nothing in comparision to bands like UNLEASHED and ENTOMBED for example. About brand new acts, I was convinced directly when I heard the demos of these new Swedish Death / Crust / Thrash bands: SWORN, CORRUPT or why not RADIOSKUGGA. There is a lot of kids growing up that have an excellent taste when it comes to picking up the great elements of the oldschool and bringing in the new school when it comes to playing their instruments like they have done so for ten years or more, even though they are 16-20 years old. That amazes me and makes me proud of being a Swede!!!"

IN AETERNUM is your other baby, so when have you replaced their drummer Joacim Olaffsson and what do you think about the evolution IN AETERNUM made? I think after the second album and not reliable business behaviour of Necropolis Records IN AETERNUM got pretty much underrated. I mean they got some really good shows and tours in the beginning, but then it really seemed the band disappeared, or what would you say? Are they happy with the new Polish label Agonia Records and what about the upcoming album? By the way are you a real IN AETERNUM member or just a session one?
"Well, IN AETERNUM have had a lot of problems with various labels in the past, not only Necropolis. And also, a lot of problems with full line-ups, first with various drummers and then finding a suitable bassplayer. I’ve known IN AETERNUM since 99 when I saw them playing at a show that I and a friend of mine, Tore Stjerna (Necromorbus Studio), put together in Stockholm. Their music has always been very inspiring since then. Tore even played with IN AETERNUM at some tours and recorded three tracks with them on their previous full-length album “Nuclear Armageddon”. Anyway, David (Guitar / Vox) called me during Sept/Oct 2003 and asked me if I was interested to help them recording three tracks as a promo. It sounded interesting to my ears and I decided to do it. So during two days in December 2003 we recorded the infamous GROTESQUE cover plus two brand new IN AETERNUM tracks. It all ended up just fine, and as IN AETERNUM was in need of a permanent drummer they asked me directly after the recording to join the band, which I did, I actually didn’t had much of a choice to tell you the truth, the guys threaten to kill me otherwise… Ha ha!! So, yes, I am a member. Pretty soon after the recording IN AETERNUM was asked to join DEICIDE during their summer tour 2004 through Europe, and due to that the label Agonia Records decided to put out the three tracks we recorded plus an older song, on an limited edition digipak-MCD for 1000 copies as a special release for the tour. We went to start the tour in London at the Astoria in June, after a couple of warm-up shows in Sweden. But directly when we got there the promoter told us that something was not working out as it should, DEICIDE was at Heathrow trying to catch a flight back home to the States, due to a lot of problems between the band and the booking agency. So, there we stood… We had paid upfront for a motorhome rent for 5 weeks, we paid all the travelling costs for ourselves, we had been printing lots of shirts… And then, NO TOUR!!! Sure, for some bands that would have been the end, but for us it was like, yeah whatever, “Let’s go home!”. I would like to point out that we were never ever really angry or something like that, we have been in this business so long so we pretty much know that things can fuck up. The funny thing is that the booking agency Metallysee said directly after the cancellation of the tour that they would never work with DEICIDE ever again. And this autumn, starting in September, DEICIDE is doing a tour for Metallysee again. That’s just how rotten this business is. But if you can’t deal with it, I guess you have nothing here to do… It’s how it is. Money talks, bullshit walks! About Agonia Records; Well, let’s put it this way, I am not too keen on dealing with labels that directly lie to the band. Agonia has done that and they even had the guts to admit it too. The brand new album that will be released any day now; “Dawn Of A New Aeon”, is by far the best work in the history of IN AETERNUM. It’s so fucking intense, so over the top! You have to go out and get hold of it to understand!!! It’s much more varied than IN AETERNUM has ever been, and yes, I am very satisfied with the evolution of IN AETERNUM."

It’s nearly like a story for a soap opera newspaper, but what’s your point of view about the trouble about the coverartwork from the “No Salvation” MCD, which was basically taken from the film “Passion Christi”? It seems like Mel Gibson isn’t that much a fan of real Swedish Black / Death Metal… Don’t you think that’s a kind of senseless trouble for a MCD which sells not more then 1000 copies…
"It’s Hell being Mel”, you know, as said in a particular Simpson episode. I don’t know too much about this fucking silly situation, besides that IN AETERNUM has been mentioned in some newspapers in Sweden, as well as on television. One could say that the scandal gave rise to any number of irresponsible articles. The funny thing is that I haven’t even seen the movie. I mean, it’s about christ… Who cares? The only good thing about this movie is that they show the people once and for all that the christianity is just a made up story, from start to end. I used to think that Mel Gibson was cool, but I think that I have to reconsider."

IN AETERNUM did a cover of a classical GROTESQUE track for the AT THE GATES tribute album – I know you’re a big fan of their “Incantation” MLP, so how was it to pay that tribute and what do you think about the “mythos” AT THE GATES? By the way have you seen them live back then in Sweden?
"Well, I don’t know much about the tribute album, sure I have a copy of it myself but it’s a lot of crap on there. And if you ask me there would have been a cooler thing to pay tribute to GROTESQUE on the whole album from the start. I surely like AT THE GATES as well, don’t get me wrong, but I hate bands doing covers of a band that they don’t seems to understand from the start, I mean there is some bands that are doing heavier versions of classical AT THE GATES stuff… Fuck that!! I hate bands that do like that… Fuck you all. Yes, I have seen them a numerous times back in the early 90s, we even played with AT THE GATES on some shows with SUFFER in 1992. I was a very good friend with Tompa during 92-96, we used to meet up a lot and party, listening to Metal, sleep over at eachothers places and so on. Of course we are still chatting when we see eachother, but he is too busy with all his bands and I am pretty fucked as well, so we don’t directly talk over the phone that much. I am also a good friend of Jonas Björler, the bassplayer, and his girlfriend Lena Gustavsson as they hang out with the NIFELHEIM brothers when he is not touring with his band after AT THE GATES, called THE HAUNTED."

Well, there’s another issue left to cover: NIFELHEIM!!! Is the band still existing and how does it differ, feelingwise to play drums for the tunes of Tyrant and Hellbutcher – the MAIDEN freaks… Are they easy people to get along with and what do you enjoy about NIFELHEIM?
"First of all: I love NIFELHEIM! The band is alive and well, but they just don’t need to push things all the time and rush out another record. And hey Ralf, to make a long story shorter; I was asked to go for an audition in November, just before I went out on the road with DISSECTION for a month working as tourmanager. And in December I recorded the new IN AETERNUM album at Studio Abyss. In January I recorded the NOMINON album in Necromorbus Studio and directly after that I went working on the IMPALED NAZARENE tour for a couple of weeks. So it was first in March we finally met and rehearsed for a few days, it was me, Tyrant and Hellbutcher only. They wanted me to play songs like ‘Sodomizer’, ‘Storm Of Satan’s Fire’, ‘Black Evil’, ‘Satanic Sacrifice’ and more. After that few rehearsal hours they welcomed me to the band and asked if I could play a live show the same month in Stockolm, Sweden. Which I would had done if I wasn’t busy rehearsing with IN AETERNUM for their European tour during April / May with BELPHEGOR. I like to work with the brothers and we are pretty much at the same level when it comes to how to act like a human being, because I know that they have had lots of struggle with some previous bandmembers, so I just told them right away that I can only accept honest people within the band that I work with, which they agreed was the most important thing too within NIFELHEIM. So, from there we have just went on talking about the future, and if everything works out fine NIFELHEIM will record their fourth album during this autumn."

Ok. Most of our interviews have a kind of comment game, so what comes spontanous to your mind if you read the following:
Your hometown Jonköping:
"I like it here, even though there is a lot of Christians living here. But that’s just inspiring, I guess."

Swedish Snus:
"I used to use it myself for five years during 1995-1999 or something, it’s just a substitute for cigarettes really."

Your fave drummers:
"Tommy Lee and Cozy Powell were my main inspiration when I first started playing drums at the age of 10, nowadays I like drummers like Mike Mangini (Annihilator… etc) and Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater). My fave Death Metal drummers must be Pete Sandoval and Chris Piss (Kaamos)."

The biggest assholes you’ve meet in the scene in the past years:
"Some guys in PUNGENT STENCH during the IMPALED NAZARENE tour. I used to like that band, you know. But on the other hand they might not treat any other band’s tourmanager good, I don’t know? But the way they acted that night in Vienna, Austria in January, I feel ashamed for them. Usually I don’t talk a lot of crap about other people, but I just couldn’t let these guys pass… Sorry!"

The early FAFNIR Black Metal days of NOMINON:
"To start with, FAFNER is spelled FAFNER as far as I am concerned, and not FAFNIR. Anyway, I still remember when Juha sent me those tapes (“Daemon 1” and “Daemon 2”) during 1993. I wasn’t too fond of Black Metal at the time, so I didn’t pay that much of attention to it, but still it got some good underground vibes on it. At the time Juha sent me “Promo 97”, I was overhelmed and since then I have adored all the NOMINON stuff after that particular demo."

Finally back to NOMINON: When will the new album be unleashed and what can we expect from your camp in 2005?
"The new album “Recremation” is being printed right now and the label keeps us updated all the time, tomorrow or the day after they will receive the testprint of it, to make sure that everything looks fine. The CD version will also be released with a special slipcase, which we hope will look amazing because the design thing Timo did for that one is amazing, as well as rest of the layout of course!! So I guess that the CD version will be out within 10-14 days, let us say late April to be sure. At the same time Konqueror will also release a brand new NOMINON t-shirt containing the cover artwork and a exclusive backprint featuring a photo collection of the bandmembers. For the 12” LP version of “Recremation” I don’t know that much besides that Blood Harvest Records will release it during April, that is what we have been told anyway. The layout design is being worked on right now, so I guess we will receive some ideas for it within a couple of days, the LP version will include a bonus track in shape of a cover of WHIPLASH old classic ‘Spit On Your Grave’, that we recorded last year with Juha on vocals. The LP will also include a printed innersleeve which feels fucking great if you ask me, due to the fact that not all LPs or vinyls in general do that these days. Besides these releases NOMINON is set to do some touring in Europe. For now we have the Fuck The Commerce festival show on May the 5th in Germany. Then we are working on a five date tour of Finnland in August, a few days before we are set to do nine dates in the U.K. during late August / early September. NOMINON will also play the Gothenburg Death Fest in September here in Sweden, it is a very important show in Sweden, only Death Metal… That’s why it’s important if you ask me. We have also been promised to do a three week European tour during October as support act to another killer Death Metal band, so we cross our fingers and bones that it will come true. Even a promoter in Greece has been in touch, so hopefully NOMINON will crush that country to Hell as well… We have to wait and see what’s down the road, don’t have any crystal ball around."

At last I like to thank you very much Perra for your time and dedication to that interview!!! Good luck for all your further activities!!! Keep it deadly and feel free to add some final words to that story.
"Thank you Ralf for this ultra fucking brutal interview!!! I hope you are satisfied with my answers, even though I felt a bit stressed due to I’m going away in a couple of days and got tons of preparations to do. See you in Germany on tour with NOMINON or some other shitty activities that I might end up in… Ha ha!!! If anyone would like to check out available merchandise or further information about the bands I play with, here’s some website addresses: www.nominon.com / www.inaeternum.com / NIFELHEIM ain’t got a updated website, so just keep your eyes open for a new one soon, I guess. Anyone is also free to contact me at: perra@nominon.com or nominon@lycos.com. Thanks again Ralf, you rule."

The following facts about Perra were taken from the official NOMINON website, so all copyright goes out to them:

Born: February 14th, 1973
Equipment: Pearl export doublebass drumset with AXIS X Single pedals, five toms and various Zildjan / Sabian cymbals. Wincent drumsticks.
NOMINON member since: 2001
Other bands: Perra proudly massacres the drums also with In Aeternum and Nifelheim, as well as the new satanic outfit Obscuritas.
Previous bands / projects worth mentioning: Wortox / Altar 88-90, Mould Magazine 90-94, Suffer 90-94, Deathmill Lunatics Comp Tape 92-94, Dion Fortune 95-96, T.A.R 97-00, Metal Wire 02-04. Heathendoom Music 95-still going…
Livemoments: W.A.S.P in Karlskoga Oct. 84, Sadus in Denmark 92, Annihilator at Wacken 01, Whitesnake at SRF 03, Dissection in Helsinki 04.
Fave zines: Morbid Mag (R.I.P) & Metal Wire (R.I.P).
Listens to: I like SADUS and GROTESQUE among others!
Various: Have played live as a session drummer with a bunch of acts including Nasum and The Everdawn.
Favourite NOMINON track: ‘Under The Five Pointed-Star’.
Personal motto: Do your best, fuck the rest!

Recording history:

1988 – JAM SESSION "Demo #1" (unreleased studio recording)
1988 – JAM SESSION "Demo #2" (unreleased studio recording)
1989 – WORTOX "The Unknown" Demotape
1990 – HARCLASS "You, Believe In God" Reh / Demo
1990 – SUFFER "Manifestation Of God" Demotape
1990 – S.S.S.S. "Kråkbråk" Reh / Demotape
1991 – HARCLASS "Demo #2"
1991 – HARCLASS / PP7 GATZFEBB "Split Demo"
1991 – SUFFER "Promotape 1991" Demo / 7" EP
1993 – SUFFER "Global Warming" Mini-CD
1993 – SUFFER "Thrashing The North Away" Live 7" EP
1994 – SUFFER "Structures" CD (Napalm Records 006)
1996 – SERPENT "The Fog" Demotrack
1996 – DION FORTUNE "Demo 1996" (engineered by Mike Wead – unreleased!)
1997 – SERPENT "Autumn Ride" CD
1997 – T.A.R "Fear Of Life" CD
1998 – T.A.R "Tar And Feathers For The Millennium"
1998 – T.A.R "Torture 1342"
1999 – SERPENT "3rd" (3rd album, unrel. Prod. Sami / ex – THERION)
1999 – SERPENT "Master Of Insanity" (BLACK SABBATH / DIO-era tribute – unreleased!)
2001 – NOMINON "Promo 2001" (3 tracks unrel. studio recording)
2002 – NOMINON "Blaspheming The Dead" 7" EP/Cass-EP
2003 – NOMINON "The True Face Of Death" MCD/MLP
2003 – IN AETERNUM "Promodemo" incl. Grotesque cover for tribute!
2004 – NOMINON – Voivod cover for tribute + Whiplash cover
2004 – IN AETERNUM "Dawn Of A New Aeon" CD
2005 – NOMINON "Recremation" CD/LP

Release history:

Demotapes:
1989 – WORTOX "The Unknown" Demotape (Rel. in 100 x)
1990 – HARCLASS "You, Believe In God" (5 x)
1990 – S.S.S.S. "Kråkbråk" Reh/Demotape (25 x)
1991 – SUFFER "Manifestation Of God" Demotape (500 x)
1991 – HARCLASS "Why Get Into This?" (5 x)
1991 – HARCLASS / PP7 GATZFEBB "Split Demo" (25 x)
2003 – NOMINON "Blaspheming The Dead" Cass-EP (NW Records 200 x)

7" EP/Pic.disc vinyls:

1993 – SUFFER "On Sour Ground" 7" ep (New Wave Records 1500 x)
1993 – SUFFER "Thrashing The North Away" Live 7" ep (300 x)
2004 – IN AETERNUM "Covered In Hell" Pic. 7" EP (Bloodstone. Euro-tour edition!)
2005 – NOMINON "Blaspheming The Dead" 7" ep (NW Records)

12" MLP/LP vinyls:

2004 – NOMINON "The True Face Of Death" MLP (TPL Records)

Compilation CDs:

1996 – SERPENT "The Fog" Demotrack (Comp-CD w/ Shadows Of Mich. Mag.)
1997 – SERPENT "Live Through This" (Warzone. Comp.CD w/Metal Invader Mag.)
1999 – T.A.R "Torture 1342" (1 Mercyful Fate track for Still Dead Prod tribute CD.)
2004 – NOMINON "White Death" (Track on "Voices From The Arctic Circle" comp)
2004 – IN AETERNUM "Slaughterous Souls-A Tribute to At The Gates" Dr.Scream

Mini-CDs:

1993 – SUFFER "Global Warming" Mini-CD (Napalm Records 002)
1998 – T.A.R "Tar And Feathers For The Millennium" (Same label. 1000 x)
2004 – NOMINON "The True Face Of Death" MCD (NW Records)
2004 – IN AETERNUM "No Salvation" MCD (Agonia Records)

CDs:

1994 – SUFFER "Structures" CD (Napalm Records 006)
1996 – SERPENT "In The Garden Of…Serpent" CD (Nuclear Blast. On pic. only)
1997 – SERPENT "Autumn Ride" CD (HDMCD005.)
1997 – T.A.R "Fear Of Life" CD (Tar Prod/HDM. 2000 x)

Coming up:

2005 – NOMINON "Recremation" CD (Konqueror Records)
2005 – NOMINON "Recremation" LP (Blood Harvest Records)
2005 – IN AETERNUM "Dawn Of A New Aeon" CD (Agonia Records)
Tba – SERPENT "Serpent Bloody Serpent" CD (White Devil Records. Recorded in 99)
Tba – NOMINON "VOIVOD tribute album" Nihilistic Holocaust Records

Interview: Ralf Hauber
Intro: Frank