All are summoned to war! Deathhammer are a Norwegian duo, who released this year their 5th feature – Electric Warfare. Fast, violent, primitive thrash is what Sergeant Salsten and Sadomancer have been doing since 2006. We were talking with these two sons of the devil, in anticipation of performing at Barroselas Metal Fest (with Autopsy).
M.I. - Hi! This is Ivan! How are you? Thanks for this interview!
Sergeant Salsten: Hi dude, I'm good. Just got off work, picked up a big bag of grass and the EXTRA HOT SAUCE - TACO OF DEATH LP. Listening to it now with a cold beer. Thrashing excellence!
M.I. – Nice! Ok, first of all, congratulations on the lastest album! Fast, brutal, visceral, it represents everything that is true Thrash Metal!
Sergeant Salsten: Thanks, yeah it's aggressive shit!
M.I. – Starting and going back a little, for context… How did you meet and why did you decide to form a band?
Sergeant Salsten: We met at a Mayhem concert in early 2005. We had been communicating for some time before, we got in touch because we were both impressed with EXODUS - TEMPO OF THE DAMNED album that had just gotten released. We were filled with thrashing rage, thought most bands around sucked and had a sinister urge to bash out some hellish shit.
M.I. - Why did you always remain as a duo? Why not recruit elements to a more “traditional” structure (3, 4 or 5 elements)?
Sadomancer: We can do everything by ourselves so there`s no need. Would probably just take longer time with more people too and we`re slow as it is.
M.I. – Ok, so being a duo, does make songwriting a simpler process. There is less interference. How is your process? Do you share songs and each one does one, get into each other's ideas…?
Sergeant Salsten: Yeah, it's a good dynamic, we do shit pretty intuitively. We mostly make the songs solo but we also collaborate quite a bit. On ELECTRIC WARFARE we didn't make any songs together, but we will on the forthcoming attack.
M.I. – What general message do you want to convey with Electric Warfare?
Sergeant Salsten: Complete and utter destruction and death!
M.I. – Electric Warfare, not only is it your longest album, it also has the longest songs. Was it due to a longer gap between albums? Did you had more content?
Sergeant Salsten: No not really. Sadomancer was in a state of making some epics, but my songs aren't particularly long.
Sadomancer: It just turned out that way naturally really, wasn`t thinking like “now im gonna make some epic long-ass shit”. Just had a lot of riffs and parts which fitted well together.
M.I. – Of course, this album was thought long before the current events and, at the time, we were far from knowing what would happen… But now must not be a very good time to release anything related to wars. On the other hand, Thrash has always been a “fight” genre. It almost always deals with social and political problems, wars, state control… Could it, therefore, be the most relevant time possible?
Sergeant Salsten: Actually, it's the most perfectly timed release of all time! It came out the day the war started.
M.I. – In your daily life, do you practice this “fight”? if so, in what way? Or do you only externalize through music?
Sadomancer: Not one bit. We`re too comfy here in Norway.
M.I. – Your sound takes a lot from the first Speed/Thrash bands – Sodom, Slayer, Kreator, Exodus even Iron Maiden. What are your most distant influences from this type of sound? What do you hear that is the furthest from Thrash?
Sergeant Salsten: The furthest away from Thrash would have to be superchill prog rock like Camel and such. They're trying to make the listener feel comfortable and relaxed. Camel rules though!
Sadomancer: Most distant influences in Deathhammer, hummm… Would have to be Fates warning or something, but since you mentioned maiden - and some people have commented about the classic heavy metal/speed-riffing on this album, it`s a part of our sound anyway so not so distant. It`s all a big melting pot of real metal. I guess ambient music would be the most distant since it often doesn`t even have beats.
M.I. – Just for fun… If you had to remove one of the Big 4 (from Thrash) to include Deathhammer, who would you remove?
Sergeant Salsten: Testament sucks!
Sadomancer: Megadeth without a shadow of a doubt.
M.I.- You take the image of metal very seriously (the leather, the vests, the chains…). Do you think that without that, your music/message wouldn't do so well? Is the image really necessary or could the music speak for itself?
Sadomancer: The music should be able to speak for itself for sure. Everybody can dress up and act, conveying raw feelings is something else.
M.I. - If you had to introduce Deathhammer to someone who doesn't know the band, just through a single song of yours, what would it be? Which one best represents you?
Sadomancer: Best representing us now would for sure be one of our new songs off our upcoming album which we started recording these days. Apart from that they are all representative in some way.
M.I. – Coming from a country where the main genre of metal is black metal and which has given us so many great names such as Burzum, Darkthrone, Mayhem, Emperor, Enslaved, Dimmu Borgir, Immortal… How is it trying to succeed in Thrash?
Sergeant Salsten: Well, there was a few Thrash bands around before us, some of them were killer like Infernö and Ghoul-cult. It's a Black Metal country for sure but there's always been thrashing shit around, especially in the east. CONDOR - UNSTOPPABLE POWER is a fucking masterpiece!
Sadomancer: Also, those bands you mentioned had their big haydays in the 90s which is like 30 years ago.
M.I. - You have other projects (Impugner, Torpedo, Black Viper, Conflagration…)… Are any of them to move forward on a more regular basis?
Sergeant Salsten: Torpedo is probably dead but Impugner is active. There's a pretty fresh demo out called ADVENT OF THE WRETCHED and we just played our first concert at a killer death metal night in Oslo with the totally wicked Abhorration.
Sadomancer: Black viper is always working on something new. Just recorded an EP last year which is soon completed, and our second album “Solitary gates” will be recorded hopefully this year.
M.I. – I think you already been in Portugal once. And you will come back here to perform at Barroselas! What do you think of the Portuguese crowd? What do you expect from the gig?
Sergeant Salsten: The crowd was good, it was pretty wild! I think it's gonna be fucking sick to play with the mighty Autopsy.
M.I. - What other live plans (tours) do you have planned?
Sergeant Salsten: We're planning to do a tour with Nunslaughter in the US in November. We have just started talking about it but hopefully it works out. Nunslaughter slays!
M.I. – You`re already recording the next album. When will come out?
Sergeant Salsten: We have a new album rehearsed and ready to record. It's gonna ripping! But shit takes time, so don't hold your breath.
M.I. - For those who wants to know more about the band, buy the albums and merchandising, where can they go?
Sergeant Salsten: Check with Hells Headbangers.
M.I. – Last words for our readers?
Sergeant Salsten: Shit my dick out!
M.I. – Damn!... Again, thanks for the interview! We are waiting for you, on a Portuguese stage. Keep doing what you do so well and until next time!
For Portuguese version, click here
Listen Deathhamer, on Spotify
Questions by Ivan Santos
