Tripalium 4: The Petrified Issue. KRONOS (Fr)

Interview with founding member/former drummer Mike in 2004. He left the band early this year to give priority to his other musical project.

First off, I wonder what the reactions like of those who have heard your album. I was highly amazed by its production.
The reactions have been quite positive since we have had good critiques in the magazines that talked about the album. Our CD sells well during our concerts and the audience are generally very receptive as soon as we start playing. As a whole, reactions are more than positive and that's good for us. About the production of the album, it indeed often surprises people because the sound is open whereas most of the time, the sound on metal album is dull. As you can see, you're not the only one to be surprised!

You started out as a thrash outfit then moved to death metal and finally settled to brutal death. What have you learned through all those musical transformations?
Actually, we grew more mature as we evolved in those different styles. We learned a lot, especially that the faster you play, the more precise you must be and that makes thing a lot more complicated. That's why we think that playing brutal death is more difficult than playing death or trash metal. However, even if today we are into brutal death, our music is still influenced by trash metal or ASPHYX-like old-school death metal. It is obvious in the album… Some of the riffs are influenced by trash, old-school death but also black metal, grind and even a glimpse of power/hard-core sometimes. Our music is really made of different elements linked to our previous influences.

Your music also has a lot of grind elements and it's one of the reasons why I was so hooked up into it. From where did you guys draw most of your influences, particularly grind.
It is true that some passages sound like grind. It can be easily explained by the fact that we all more or less listen to that kind of music. As far as I am concerned, I am a great fan of TERRORIZER and I also like NAPALM DEATH or LOCK-UP. Therefore, some of our influences derive from that music. It is the same process for the black or power-sounding passages. Our mental environment is not only based on death metal but it is opened on many other musical styles (be it metal or not). That's why we use so many different elements when we create our music. To conclude on this subject, this process is sometimes conscious and deliberate but sometimes it is completely unconscious.

Titan's Awakening was basically a re-issued album but is that the original recording that you did or had there be any enhancement done?
The copies of the album edited by Warpath Records is musically identical to the first edition. Nothing has been changed. Only the sleeve and the artwork of the booklet have been completely changed on the official edition.

And the over all presentation of the album, the booklet and everything was very professional. How would compare this to the original CD that you independently released?
We decided to change the artwork and the sleeve to get an album that would be a lot more professional, then your question makes me think that it is quite successful. On the first edition, the graphic conception has been made with the technical and financial means that you have when you auto-produce your album, which is not much !! We took advantage of the chance Warpath gave us to improve our album and to make it more professional.

And the idea of bringing in Kristof of Depraved to do some vocals, how did it happen?
We know the guys from DEPRAVED quite well for a certain amount of time since we live not too far from them and also because we played together a certain number of time. We all like this band and Kristof's voice and since we get on well with them, we have had the idea to invite Kristof to grunt on our record to make it more pleasant. At first, Xav from Blockheads should have come as well but he had a lot to do at the time so we couldn't make it. That's why you can only hear Kris' voice on the album.

And speaking of the original release, how many copies were sold of that one before Warpath took you under their fold?
We only released 515 copies of it and today, there are only about 10 of it left ! So we may say that it has become a collector's item !!! If someone is interested in that edition, they'd better hurry because the last copies will be soon gone !

The only thing that failed to impress me of your album is the cover, although it's a good one, it strongly reminds me of Deather previous work with Disinter? Is the artworks solely Deather's idea?
If DEATHER is a great and gifted artist, it is true that he tends to repeat himself. You can realize it if you take a look at his last productions (RECUEIL MORBIDE, PERVERSITY, CARNAL LUST…) You can often see the same sleeves with the characters who look a lot like one another !!! Nevermind, we don't regret at all to have asked him to create our sleeve because we think it is wonderful !! We had very precise demands to make it fit in our concept based on mythologies in general (and especially ancient Greek mythology) and it corresponds to what we wanted. To answer your question on DISINTER, it is obvious that our titan's face is almost the same as the main character's on DISINTER'S sleeve. But it doesn't matter because our concept is very different from theirs.

Now that you're finally signed to a label, do you think you've already fulfilled your long time dream?
Absolutely, it is a dream come true!!! When we started playing our ultimate goal was to sign a deal with a label and for us, it was a complete utopia!!! Then, time and hard-work helping, we have done it! And we are proud of it! Now our dreams keep on evolving and we really want to sign a deal with a bigger label for our next album so we can keep on going forward and reach a new level. We do hope it will come true one day but if we keep working as hard as we do since we began, I'm sure it'll happen.

Aside from obviously giving you all the freedom to make the record as good as possible, what are the other things that Warpath has done and are still doing to promote you?
Warpath promotes our album all around the world by sending as many promotional CDs as possible to magazines like yours, but also to radio stations or other labels. They really do a great job and we can't ask for more.

You were in last years Soul Grinding Fest. Will you tell us more about that festival? How do you think Fred handles this fest?
This festival is a great initiative!!! It is made of several European groups who are given the opportunity to play in perfect conditions on a fantastic stage where bands like MORBID ANGEL, CANNIBAL CORPSE and many other wonderful bands often play!! What more can be said ? The price is so cheap that it is almost given. It is perfectly organized thanks to Fred's (INHUMATE) fantastic work. This guy works a hell of a lot to make the underground stage move in the East of France and everybody should be grateful for it! I think everyone in the area should rush to this great event that takes place only once a year. Go and I promise you won't be disappointed!!!

Were you able to make it at this year's festival as well? What can you say about the headliner of this year's fest?
We didn't play in this festival this year because we were already there last year and everyone must be given the chance to play there but we hope we will be able to play there again in the future because we had a marvellous time playing for more than a hundred unleashed people on that fantastic stage. As far as the other groups who played this year are concerned, there is nothing I can tell you because I wasn't available at the time and I didn't go.

You've done several gigs outside France, so far where do you think you have the strongest following in outside of France?
I immediately think of Germany and particularly a town called Ludwigschaffen where we played two fantastic gigs with DEMENTOR, PROFANITY, KADATH and others. The audience there were absolutely exceptional and we were given the warmest welcome ever! We really are in a hurry to go back there when our next album is released.

French scene has a lot of indie goregrind and brutal death bands and I'm sure you are aware of their existence as well. Will you tell us some cool bands that you knew of from there?
Well indeed, there are many interesting groups. I am thinking of DEPRAVED, BLOCKHEADS, SCARVE, RECUEIL MORBIDE, INHUMATE, MORTUARY, DUNGORTHEB, CARNAL LUST, IMPERIAL SODOMY, FATE, CARCARIASS, GRONIBARD and many others! The underground stage is developing more and more thanks to brilliant and motivated groups and this is a good thing for our country, which is often criticized for its crappy metal!

Finally what's next for Kronos after this album? When can we expect to hear new stuff from you guys?
We will go on a studio session in August to record our next album which should be released in December 2003. We already have 7 tracks ready and I can assure you that the sound will be more powerful than the sound of "TITAN'S AWAKENING". The songs will also be more brutal, more powerful and more chaotic as well so you can be sure that the titan will be back !! When this album is released, we will play as many gigs as we can to promote it in France and abroad so for those who are interested, come and have fun with us!

Thanx Mike for your time, any final words for our demented readers?
Thanks a lot for your support and for this interesting interview. I'd also like to thank our fans in the Philippines and all around the world. Thanks as well to all those who support metal everyday. For all those who don't know us yet, I invite you to visit our website to know everything about us but to also to listen to our music.

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