TORTURE KILLER – Interview with Tuomas Karppinen

Torture Killer, a newly presented death metal group from Finland have signed a contract with Hammerheart (Karmageddon Media) and they have already recorded their first full length album! “For maggots to devour” is going to be released very soon (October 6th, 03) so, I asked Tuomas to share a few details with us…

Torture Killer were formed in 2002 and started as a fun project. What made you take the idea of the group more seriously?

Well, the band first started out as a fun project during the spring of 2002, when we were hanging out at our rehearsal room drinking beer and playing some of our favourite Six Feet Under and Obituary songs. After a couple of months we had a sudden possibility to play live at a local metal show rose out of nowhere and after a small discussion we agreed to perform a set of SFU cover songs. After that weekend we decided to try writing some similar material of our own. The tracks turned out to be total killers with a massive sound and groove. From the first chord we played together it was obvious that Torture Killer would not remain as a “weekend boozing” project, it sounded way too good for that…and here we are. But the basic idea remained the same – We´re still boozing and enjoying ourselves as much as in the beginning.

What is your current line up? What other bands are you members of?

Torture Killer squadron :

J.Laine – Guitar

T.Karppinen – GuitarBass

M.Liuke – VoKILLs

T.Latvala – Battery

.

Well, personally I´m involved with few other bands like Torn (brutal, extreme death metal) and Funeral Feast (blood reaping black/death).. Laine is a member of Adramelech (unmercyful death metal) and Latvala is playing in bands like Demigod (death metal), Torn and Annihilatus (black metal).

How difficult do you think it is to be an active of more than one groups?

Personally I don´t think it´s that difficult. Probably it depends on how often you must rehearse with these bands you are involved in. For me this situation fits fine. At least I have enough time for every band/project I´m involved in..and I think that other members of Torture Killer would agree.

Torture Killer have managed to sign a contract with Hammerheart or…should I say Karmageddon Media?

Yeah, we signed a deal with Hammerheart records (soon to be known as Karmageddon Media) in spring 2003.

How did this happen (contract)? How important was your promo CD (a well refined one, I think)

We just sent a promo CD including 5 tracks from the upcoming album to HHR-crew and soon after that they contacted us and offered us a deal.

Had you contacted any other label before?

After we had finished the recordings of the album, we sent a few promo-copies to a small amount of respectable metal labels.

What can you say about your co-operation with your label?

Everything has worked out really well. Nothing more, nothing less.

What do you think of the other groups that also have contract with your label?

I think that HHR has some really great bands under their wings, like Infernal, Severe Torture, Blood Red Throne and Monstrosity (godzz!) to name a few..

So, when is your debut album going to be released?

October 6th 2003 the maggots will walk the earth…

I've read that you've had some problems/delay because of the cover art work (which I don't think it's that extreme). What has happened and is everything alright at the moment?

Yeah, the album got refused to be printed at the cd-factory. Official reason was that the artwork and the lyrical content of the album were too shocking. Fortunately HHR found a new cd-factory, so the release will not be delayed any longer than necessary.

Besides this, have you dealt with any other problems?

Not really. Our other guitarist left soon after the studio-sessions, but this really didn't´t cause any problems for us. My main instrument is also guitar, so it was pretty natural that I would handle the six strings of torture in future..

Can you give us some details about the recording process?

Allright…We entered the studio in the beginning of January 2003. The final result for this low budget recording (recorded, mixed and mastered in 30 hours) was perfect. Exactly what we were after. We didn't had any big or even little problems during the studio-sessions, everything just turned out just the way we wanted to.

Was your material ready when you signed the contract (in your website it says it was recorded in January)? Did you have to complete your compositions during the process?

As I mentioned before, the album was recorded in January 2003 and the deal was signed in spring 2003. The promo CD included 5 tracks from the album so the material was totally ready and complete when we signed this deal.

Are you satisfied with the result?

Yeah. Totally. I think that it couldn't´t turn out much better.

Can you describe in detail Torture Killer's sound/music?

Torture Killer stands for extreme old-school death metal (in honour of old godz like Obituary, (old) Six Feet Under, Bolt Thrower etc.), which in nowadays is almost totally disappeared from the scene. The tracks in the album are filled with totally killer riffs with a massive sound and groove. To say it in few words – ..Torture Killer is the official squadron of death..

What is the title about?

The next Torture Killer album will include a track called “For maggots to devour”. The title “For maggots to devour” album stands for nothing less than the life-process of the scum of earth – man. The birth – the death, from womb to tomb

–> FOR MAGGOTS TO DEVOUR

Photos & logo taken from the band website.