With “Helljjin Combat”, the extreme Metal band SIJJIN is taking a somewhat new direction. The sound of the album is, of course, still as furious as ever. But this time, the foundation clearly harks back more to the golden years of the ’80s. Bassist / vocalist Malte Gericke reflects in an open-hearted conversation on the turbulent period that has influenced both the music and the themes of the album.

The last time we spoke to each other was when you played together with SADISTIC INTENT at De Nor in Antwerp in July 2022. I can still picture that day perfectly. The bands performed on a small outdoor stage among the trees. The weather was fantastic. There was a surprisingly large turnout of people and the entire atmosphere was incredibly relaxed and laid-back. Everyone was enjoying themselves. And both bands delivered an absolutely amazing and incredibly tight performance. It was one of those rare days where everything just felt right.
“Indeed! I can also still remember that day very well. When we arrived, my initial thought was “No fucking way! Who will show up here to see a Death Metal concert?”. But the evening turned out to be one of the highlights of the whole tour. The audience was absolutely killer. During the set of SADISTIC INTENT, I started a little riot in the crowd. And although everybody was going nuts, it was always respectful and there was a great sense of solidarity.”

At that time, the SIJJIN debut album “Sumerian Promises” had already been out for about six months. However, you continued promoting the album for a long time, playing numerous festivals all over the world and even embarking on a second European tour the next year as a support act for GRAVE MIASMA.
“We love to play live. And although the tour with SADISTIC INTENT was a pretty long and tough one, we just had to grab the opportunity of supporting our mates GRAVE MIASMA. We love those guys and their music, so we simply had no choice. During that tour, we also had the chance to play such incredible festivals as Beyond The Gates, Party San and Void Fest. So it felt kind of different to the club invasion we did with our brothers of SADISTIC INTENT one year earlier.”

The new SIJJIN album “Helljjin Combat” has a very distinctive sound. While your debut album leaned more towards pure old school Death Metal, particularly influenced by MORBID ANGEL, the thrashier ’80s style riffs take sort of center stage on this new release. In a recent interview, you mentioned that you wrote a huge number of riffs for the new record, with the songs then being arranged collectively within the band. Did you quickly realize, while working on the new material, that you were heading in a somewhat new direction?
“Oh yes, absolutely! But it felt too good to stop. You never make the same album twice, isn’t it? I was going through some personal changes when I worked on the songs for “Helljjin Combat”. And I was totally obsessed by each riff which ultimately led to the next. I expected some huge objecion of my mates, but they really liked the stuff. And so we kept most of the original frame of the songs when we met to rehearse the arrangements.”

You’ve mentioned that the writing of the album was very influenced by bands like NASTY SAVAGE, INFERNÄL MÄJESTY, POSSESSED, (old) SLAYER and (old) MEGADETH. Are there any specific songs or albums from those bands that had a direct influence on the sound or the composition of the new tracks?
“Those bands were indeed the main source of inspiration for “Helljjin Combat”. And although I love many albums of them, I guess the most important ones are “None Shall Defy”, “Show No Mercy”, “Abstract Reality”, “Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?”, “So Far, So Good… So What!” and “The Eyes Of Horror”.”

You spent a week in May 2024 in the BlackStorm Studios in Karrantza (Basque Country) to arrange the song material. “Helljjin Combat” was recorded live in the same studio in a week in November 2024. Is there still room for much experimentation at that point or is everything sort of put on tape the way you picture it then?
“Normally, all arrangements should be more or less definite when we go for the final recording. Nevertheless, we changed some parts on “Helljjin Combat” even shortly before. I always have my problem with these last minute changes. But I must honestly admit that they turned out excellent and did the album good.”

When you play the songs live in the studio, there’s no chance of playing note by note or doing the lead a thousand times over. It gives an album a way more ‘honest’ sound and approach in my opinion.
“Absolutely! That’s exactly the reason why we’re doing it. Recording live is the most authentic way to nail your stuff on tape. You have to be well prepared and you should better have practiced a lot. But the energy you can capture while being and playing in the same room is priceless and worth every effort.”

When I heard “Helljjin Combat” the first couple of times, my main thought was “It’s been a really long time since I’ve heard an album where the bass guitar is so clearly audible and actually well integrated in the mix.”. The bass is very present on the album. Your bass parts are really very clear to hear which is just a total revelation. On most of the Metal albums which get released today, the bass is just buried in the mix.
“Thanks a lot for mentioning this. The bass is indeed of utmost importance to me, and I took great care of developing my bass parts for the album as well as being in good shape while we recorded. Back in the days, there was no question if the bass should be heard. It was of the same importance as the guitars and drums. The bass functioned as the connector between harmonies, riffs and rhythm. Its special role got lost over the past decades, especially in downtuned Metal. I mean, listen to MERCYFUL FATE’s “Don’t Break The Oath” and you will hear what delicate, absolutely brilliant bass playing is all about. On most ’80s Thrash Metal records, the bass always had a well-balanced and sometimes even leading position. So I never understood why it should be buried deeply in the mix way down behind the guitars. Luckily, both Ekaitz and Iván are big supporters of my bass playing. We all agree on the fact that every instrument has its place and has to be heard.”

You’ve mentioned in a preview in Deaf Forever that “Helljjin Combat” has a sort of ‘controlled hatred’ character and that the album was written over a longer and difficult period of your life. Can you go a little deeper into how those feelings manifested in the music and the themes of the album? Would you say that you channeled those emotions directly into the sound and the lyrics?
“I indeed went through some darker days mentally and had some sort of a personal crisis, combined with a fear of the future according to my work and life in general, which was completely unknown to me. The work on the new songs gave me the opportunity to focus on what I am good at, and to escape from reality. I was heavily obsessed by riff after riff, and I felt a strong energy flowing into each composition. I certainly was aware of the fact that the song material was different to the style we executed on “Sumerian Promises”. But as said before, you never make the same album twice.”

In ‘Dakhma Curse’, the Zoroastrian concept of excarnation is referenced. A dakhma, otherwise referred to as Tower of Silence, is a circular and raised structure built by Zoroastrians for excarnation (the exposure of human corpses to the elements with the purpose to enable their decomposition) in order to avoid contamination of the soil and other natural elements by the decomposing dead bodies. From where did you get the idea to incorporate these elements into this song?
“I always wanted to write a lyric dealing with the Towers of Silence. And now, it simply seemed to be the right time for it. I am not sure when and where I first came across the history of the Dakhmas, but I was always totally fascinated by its concept and Zoroastrian mythology in general. In that particular song, the Dakhma serves as the scenery where evil rites are performed and the dead being used as vessels for demons to rise and walk the earth.”

One of the most intriguing song titles is ‘Religious Insanity Denies Slavery’. In the song, you state: “There’s nothing divine! No paradise awaits! Fuck your religion! Go fuck your God!”. I was wondering which sort of message you’re trying to convey there. Is it more of a declaration of your own freedom or more a direct challenge to organized religion?
“The song is a harsh criticism according to all religions, and mentions some disgusting examples of how far man does go to subjugate others, especially women. Little girls are married to dirty old bastards, just because they have their menstruation early. For me, this is legalised paedophilia, absolutely disgusting. Women must endure genital cutting, to avoid any lust during sex. How sick is that? Clerics abuse children. People are getting killed and beheaded just because they have the wrong faith. In my opinion, religious dogmas were surely invented only to control people. Religion is a slow poison which infests the human mind and takes over. Fucking patriarchy! Power, greed, control, perversion… those are four out of many pillars in the temple of their so-called God. No matter which name it holds. Fuck it and put your dogmas far up your asses!”

‘Horrific Distortions’ and ‘The Southern Temple’ have a slow-paced rhythm that works incredibly well in those songs. In terms of approach and structure, they are somewhat reminiscent of the older track ‘Outer Chambers Of Entity’ in my opinion. That slow-paced tempo also works well there.
“Thanks Steven, good to hear. And you’re right, ‘Horrific Distortions’ is the direct successor, lyrically and musically, to ‘Outer Chambers Of Entity’ and continues the story. ‘The Southern Temple’ is actually more of a dark Heavy Metal track. The lyrics of that track are the first of mine dealing with the Necronomicon.”

The NECROS CHRISTOS album “Doom Of The Occult” was very inspired by Egyptian mythology. I was wondering if there are certain songs on the new SIJJIN album like for example ‘Death Opens The Grave’ and ‘Trance Of The Mummified’ that are a sort of continuation of that idea?
“As for ‘Trance Of The Mummified’, I tend to agree. But ‘Death Opens The Grave’ describes the consequences of a satanic suicide ritual.”

The track ‘Five Blades’ stands out with its intense and thrashy riffs. What is the significance of the ‘five blades’ in the context of the song? Is there a deeper meaning tied to the imagery of the pentagram which comes up in the lyrics?
“I wrote the lyrics of that song, influenced by the great horror noir movie “The First Power”. It was released in 1990, it’s sort of a combination of the five sword pentagram used by SLAYER, and how a satanic serial killer carves the pentagram in the flesh of his victims to achieve the assistance of Satan.”

The visual style of the artwork of “Helljjin Combat” reminds me of Nuno Zuki’s work, the artist behind the last ADORIOR album “Bleed On My Teeth”. Was Zuki involved in the artwork for “Helljjin Combat”?
“No, he wasn’t, but I love the new ADORIOR album. The front cover of “Bleed On My Teeth” is just fucking brilliant. The artwork that you can see on the front cover of “Helljjin Combat” was painted by G. Northwic in 1714, but you will find nearly zero information about him on the internet. I discovered this painting in an old church in a small village where I used to go on vacation with my kids when they were young. The picture you see on the cover is only a small detail of a huge work titled “The Last Judgement”. I have wanted to use that picture ever since I saw it, more than fifteen years ago. And now it seemed the right time to do it. It fits the strange album title perfectly. My band mates were blown away by it as well.”

I can still remember an interview with you which was published in Bardo Methodology about the last NECROS CHRISTOS album “Domedon Doxomedon”. You put a lot of work into that album. There was a lot of discussion about the record and it got good reviews everywhere. However, you were kind of disappointed that the attention vanished so quickly and that everything just quieted down really fast. I can totally understand your feelings. However, I guess one of the main reasons that this happens is the awful amount of albums that get released every month. It’s just too much. Regarding new releases, personally, I just try to pick out a few releases which seem interesting. And in the end, I mainly always return to all the classics of the ’80s and early ’90s because you just know these records by heart and you enjoy listening to these the most.
“You’re absolutely right! The amount of releases each month is insane and it makes it nearly impossible to follow, not to mention to discover the most essential. I do my best in observing the scene with an open eye, and to listen to as many new releases as possible. But in the end, I do return to all the classics as well. Considering this, I can truly understand why the attention for “Domedon Doxomedon” vanished so quickly. That album demands a lot while listening to it. Maybe it just doesn’t fit in time. And most likely it never will.”

You contributed some vocal parts on the last BLOOD INCANTATION album “Absolute Elsewhere”. In the BLOOD INCANTATION video ‘Obliquity Of The Ecliptic’, you have the role of a priest. The famous NECROS CHRISTOS skull which can be seen on the front cover of “Triune Impurity Rites” can even be seen in the video. The reaction to “Absolute Elsewhere” has been really overwhelming in general. When I did an interview with BLOOD INCANTATION frontman Paul Riedl, I told him that I thought that the album would get a very positive response. But I didn’t anticipate the album’s reception to be as massive as it turned out to be. Were you surprised?
“When the guys let me hear the album at the Hansa studio in its entirety, I was just blown away. However, I was also sceptical how the reactions to this massive opus would be. But they did it right. And it seems that their formula and song writing skills prove to be excellent. Not only when it comes to the music, they also manage to grab the listeners by mind and heart. They absolutely deserve all the success and attention. All four of them are such great and incredible guys. I am still deeply honoured that I had a tiny part on this album, and that the guys asked me to be the priest in their video. That was really a great experience.”

You did the first gig with SIJJIN in 2020 in Hamburg, which is not that long ago. You had already made a name for yourself in the underground scene with NECROS CHRISTOS, so in that sense, SIJJIN wasn’t a complete newcomer. However, I still find it very impressive what you have built with SIJJIN in such a relatively short time, especially keeping the pandemic in 2020 in the back of your mind.
“Sometimes it feels less to be honest, but it depends on the perspective of the viewer. We have indeed played a lot of fantastic shows, and we have recorded two full-length albums in the meantime. However, running a devoted band these days isn’t always fun, I can tell you. At some moments, I already realize my age (laughs). Let’s see what the future will bring.”

What are your plans to support “Helljjin Combat”? Is it going to be mainly club shows and festivals or can we expect a full European tour?
“While we’re speaking, there are plans for a European tour together with the Chilean band MAYHEMIC. The booking is proceeding at the moment. We will play some additional club shows for sure, but I think the bigger festivals have already closed their books for this year. Anyway, thanks a lot for your support and the interview, Steven. It was a pleasure talking to you again. Cheers to all of you maniacs reading this! See you somewhere around soon!”

www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063482105195, https://sijjin.bandcamp.com

Live pics: Ryniu / Blood Libels Photography
Interview: Steven Willems