SCENT OF DEATH – …and that’s what I call death fuckin’ metal! Interview with Nuno

Death Metal underground is full of both very talented young acts and shitty rip off copies of well known acts. Actually it is not so easy to say something new while doing pure Death Metal, but hell yeah, those guys did it! I received their “Entangled In Chaos” MCD, and after few seconds I was sure what SCENT OF DEATH is all about! That’s what I call Death fuckin’ Metal! So here’s the interview with Nuno…

Hi There! As I noticed on the biography sheet you have sent me, you work on brand new tracks. Can you tell me how any new songs are ready? Are you planning to release it on your own, like you did with “Entangled In Hate” MCD or this time some label will publish it?

Hi for all, my friend, thank for your interest and support, you are a true underground warrior, hehehe… I hope you enjoy with this interview and it helps you to know more all that hides after Scent Of Death. You will begin to smell the Scent Of Death!!!

We are making new songs for our new CD, of course, until now we have finished three tracks of technical and dark brutal death metal, “Extreme Body Modification”, “Self Inflicted Wounds” and “Woven In The Book Of Hate”. The style is the same what you can hear in the MCD, but more brutal and with more riffs and changes. You can be sure that our next CD will be a fucking bomb!!!

We have signed a deal with Necromance Records, from Spain, for the edition of our new full-length album. It will be at the end of 2003, I hope, hehehe… But we still have not worked together. Necromance Records is only one of our distributors here in Spain, and a big friend of the band. The manager of Necromance likes our music a lot, so I think this fact is very important for a good promotion of our new album later. I think he is going to give all for us in the promotion. So I have no more for ask him about. He is the editor of Necromance Magazine devoted especially to Death Metal, what I think is good for a Death Metal band like us. This is all I can say for now about him, but we have a good expectative in his work. Please check out his website for the latest news about Necromance Records at www.necromancemag.com

How does look feedback for the debut release? Reviews, sales, deals?

People usually like our stuff once they have listened us. But the problem is to distribute our MCD all around the world, because it's not an easy work, believe me. This means a lot of time contacting with people, doing parcels for sending them by mail… and means too a lot of money spent in the post office. We have tried to contact all zines we could all around the world, and this is the most important promotion we have done till date. And the reviews are all a good ones. Everybody has good words for our music, so this is a fact that helps us to continue working very, very hard in our rehearsal room, and give all we have inside us when we play live.

We have obtained very high rate in some prestigious magazine all around the world, so that means that people likes our music a lot and yes, we can say now that we have some fans all round the world, who helped us a lot in order to distribute our work. I hope that much more people could listen our music in the near future, and become a real fan of Scent Of Death. They'll burn in our hell with us too!!!!!! And about sales… Well, till date we have moved about 600 copies of our MCD, plus tons of promotional copies sent to zines and labels worldwide. But not all of this copies have been sold… the more of them have been traded with labels from a lot of very different countries, as Australia, USA, Japan, Canada, Malaysia, and so on. We distribute their releases here in Spain and they move our copies there. I think is a good pact, hehehe…

Your MCD includes 2 instrumental tracks, what's not a popular idea between Death Metal bands… Why have you decided to compose and record 'em?

Yes, we have two instrumental songs,”Perpetual” and “Epilogue”. The “perpetual” song was written and recorded by Daniel, but he's not an actual member neither an old member of the band. He is just a good friend of the band. We had thought about including some instrumental pieces in the MCD, and we want it was a melancholic and melodic piece. We could do it by ourselves, but we liked more people went to the studio and and take part in the record. And he is a good friend, and came a lot of times to our rehearsal room to see us, although he doesn't like Death Metal at all, he doesn't belong to the Death Metal fans, because he comes from the classic music and likes some progressive metal bands. So, after requesting him their collaboration it consented without any problem and there the result is, over the sea sound we can find a quite melancholic and melodic piece.

The same happens with the violin in “Epilogue”. It was recorded by another friend and friend of Daniel too. We wanted something different to close this MCD, something that makes the listener stay astonished for a while, hehehe… But at the same time this outro must be a short song, so that people when they begin to assimilate it, already finish the song. And I think the sound of a violin is not usual in a Brutal Death album…. That's the reason we use a violin. But in this case, we'd never be able to record a violin without Leonardo participation's, hehehe….

Your band feature ex members of SUFFER AGE and OSMOSIS. Can you tell me more about these bands?

Both bands were a very important piece into the underground scene in Ourense, and the experiences of the members of these bands are a great thing for Scent of Death. Jorge came from Suffer Age, a melodic Death Metal band. He recorded with this group a demo called “The Beginning Of The End” but after the recording of this demo the personal differences between some members of the band provoked their dissolution. Osmosis was the original band of Carlos and Nuno, they lose their rehearsal room for a long time, and this delay and some personal problems provoked the end of this project…

I never have been in a serious band before Scent Of Death, but our new vocalist, called Luis, is a the vocalist too of a Black Metal band called Immacula Mortem, and now he is growling an ultra guttural voice, hahaha… But I think he is the perfect vocalist for us, because he has a powerful voice, as he has shown when we have played live with him. And the most important for us is that he is a very good person, accord with our personality too, hehehe…

I have no much information about Spanish Death Metal scene, what bands could you recommend me?

I am glad you to wonder that!! I want many to say somebody that I believe that we are in the rebirth of the Spanish underground, mainly in what refers to Brutal Death. Perhaps the most know bands outside Spain are the grind ones, as Haemorrhaghe, Tu Carne, Forensick, or Machetazo (although now they are more in Brutal Death…), but now in Spain there are a lot of bands in the vein of Brutal and technical Death Metal. A good example of it is Baalphegor, a very talented band which have just edited their cd debut. Totally recommended!!! Other bands are Chamber Of Shred, Dyspraxia (ex-Impacto Fecal… then they played Grind and now changed into Brutal and technical Death…), Cerebral Effusion, Human Mincer, Rotten Minds, Velocidad Absurda, Holocaust, La Matanza, Nemesis Aeterna (Dark Death Metal), Kevlar Skin, Imbrue (now in Necromance Records too…) and many others…. But the most important thing for me is that bands are starting to record their albums, MCD’s, demos and other stuff in order to promotion worldwide, and this is the first step to build a good underground scene here in Spain… And Fermento are preparing new fucking brutal songs with our drummer Nuno in its lines which be more brutal than their first album for sure, hehehe…

And it is a pity that bands so incredible as Absorbed (ultra technical Death Metal and gods for me, hehehe…) , Unnatural (Gods!!!!) or Uncreation have come undone with the musical level so high that they had reached.. Possibly the difference with other scenes is when that the groups didn't get a good sound when meeting with technicians that don't control this music so extreme sound, and the musical studies. Musically speaking, I think that the level is high, but we lack support on the part of the public, and of the owners of the rooms of concerts. As for the market of Extreme Metal, I believe that people don't buy too many disks neither you attended the concerts that are made in their area. There are always exceptions in some cities in those that there is people's massive attendance, but for example in our city, there is not a great liking for the Extreme Metal. I hope this situation changes in a near future …hehehe…

I think that this is a little dossier of the Spanish underground scene….

Are you into Classic Metal as well? I'm asking, as I'm personally much into music of old heroes such as MURO, BARON ROJO, and younger bands like MAGO DE OZ or TIERRA SANTA. What do you think about them?

Well, it’s only a personal opinion, but I prefer the old Spanish bands…the “new Spanish heavy metal” it’s only a bad copy of another bands. If you want my opinion about Tierra Santa, I think that all their songs are very boring, always the same structures, and the same kind of solos, the same stupid lyrics about the metal, sorcerers and fucking dragons… They are a insubstantial copy of the bands from Germany in the decade of the 80´….The guys from Mago de Oz don’t are saints of my devotion, they are a infantile mix of Celtic music and “metal”, if I want to hear something in this style, I prefer to hear recordings like “Johan´s Ark” or “Prince of the poverty line” from the true masters of this genre, Skyclad. Really I prefer bands like Baron Rojo, Muro, Angeles del Infierno, ObĂşs, and all the old gods… before all those bands which proclaim themselves as the new gods of Spanish Heavy Metal. I tell you that this month I have seen a concert with Baron Rojo, Saratoga, Tierra Santa, and Reincidentes, but the ones who really liked me a lot was Baron Rojo…. They are about 50 years old, and seems that they only are 30 years old, because they runs and plays like the first days when the played live at London, hahaha… Instead Tierra Santa was bored to the top. I didn’t like any of their songs, very static on stage, and all songs with the same structures. But I know this is only my opinion… in fact people seem to like their music…

I know you have some contact with my country, Poland… Can you tell me more?

Yeah, you are right, my friend… From your country I’m in contact with some great friends who have supported my band during all this time. I’d like to send a big thanks to Tymothy from Multum In Parvo & Satanahia Web Magazines, Chis from Phobia Webzine, Andrzej from Masterful Magazine, Arkadiusz from The Nocturnal Battle Of Chariots Magazine, Marcin from Panzerfaust Zine, Arek from Morbidious Pathology Zine, Dooban from Rock ‘N ‘Roll Zine, Skowron from Born To Die Zine and perhaps some others friends I may forgot, hehehe… I think your country is one from which we have obtained very great reviews of our MCD “Entangled IN Hate” in all of these Magazines. In Poland the culture of Underground Music is very huge, and I think polish maniacs really appreciate Brutal Death done with quality and I think is one of the countries where people like a lot technical Death Metal… The proof of what I say is the amount of bands full of quality that each year reached a great position in the European underground. So I think this is the reason why our music likes a lot in Poland, because, although is Brutal Death in the American vein, is played with skill and technique. And I think polish maniacs really appreciate it!!!! If you are curious, you can read a lot of reviews from Poland, published in our website (www.scentofdeath.com), and you’ll see that what I say it’s true. Thanks to all of you, my friends!!!!!

Your music is highly inspired by the Brutal Death Metal gods such as CANNIBAL CORPSE or MALEVOLENT CREATION. What do you think about their latest releases?

It’s true that we have a little influence from Cannibal Corpse, but I don’t see a trace of Malevolent Creation in our music; is a very good band ( I have all of their albums, hehehe…), but they are not an influence for us. Both bands are very important icons into the scene, and his latest releases are masterpieces… But we prefer to say that our influences come fundamentally from the American Brutal Death. In our biography, we put Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel and Dying Fetus, but the reviews that we are receiving, says that we have influences of Suffocation, Cryptopsy, Immolation, Incantation, and there is even a song that it has influences of the band Death. I count you that it is what is said of us in some zines all around the world. This must be possibly certain, and from my point of view, and only hearing four songs, means that there is a lot of variety of rhythms in our music, but only in a brutal dimension, with what the songs are enriched in shades. I think that it is very good for a band that is just in the beginning. But that should judge the listeners for themselves, and for that reason I like to say what another people say about us, and not what we say of ourselves. It would not be an objective opinion, hehehe…

Even a friend of us, from Slovakia told in an interview that our music reminded him to Deicide… But I told him the same I’m telling you about Malevolent Creation: Deicide are a great band too, but not an influence for us, but as I told you I like people to be free to say what influences see by themselves in our music. And if our music reminds you to Malevolent Creation, then, I’m very proud of it, because I like a lot their music.

What do you think about Melodic Death Metal stuff, let's say DARK TRANQUILLITY, IN FLAMES and so on?

I prefer the old works of these bands (“Skydancer” is a fucking masterpiece!!!), I don’t like too much the evolution of their music in the last years, they loose the brutality and intensity in the composition, the electronic influences in this kind of music is a bad thing…I don’t like very much their last works, but obviously, all this people are a big musicians, and I respect it… I prefer more brutal stuff, hehehe… and each time more and more brutal, hehehe… But I do not like only for being brutal, it must be a little technical at least, because I like to see musician’s abilities in the composition of the songs… If I liked only brutality, perhaps I’d like much more all those Grind bands, more than I like them nowadays, hehehe…

But this not the same case of Tierra Santa, for example, hehehe… Dark Tranquillity and In Flames, are into Extreme Metal, although their stuff be melodic. This another genre of Death Metal, and I have to respect it, because I think that their abilities are more than proved all along the years, and to composed songs in the melodic vein is not easy for me

Ok. I guess that's all I wanted to ask for… Thanks for a nice talk, and maybe write down, how the Death maniax can get in touch with you and put a hand on your release…

Thanks a lot to you, Bart, and all the Dragonight team, for your interest in Scent Of Death; if someone wants a copy of our MCD, contact us, sure response. If someone wants any information about the activities of Scent Of Death, can visit our official website (www.scentofdeath.com ), were all the people can found tons of news, live photos, download two full songs in mp3 at high quality, screensavers, and read about 50 reviews of our MCD…. I think this is the best way for all of Brutal Death maniacs to know our music… You won’t be dissapointed!!!!!

ONLY BRUTAL DEATH METAL!!!!STAY SICK!!!!!

E-mail:scentdeath@yahoo.es
Address: Nuno Miguel PĂŠrez Ntra.
Señora do Viso 4,
2º Izq. 32005 Ourense
Spain
(Bart Gabriel / www.dragonight.de)