I saw these guys live at the annual Swedish festival Augustibuller -02. "Kick ass" was my only thought and I banged my head like never before... After that I've got my hands on all of their three demos and can't really stop listening to it. Excellent! The interview is done over the internet on ICQ...


So... Matte, vocalist and guitarist of Relentless if I'm not mistaken, you're the one that will be answering my questions, right?
Yeah� that�s correct!

Any of the other members you feel are worth mentioning? Hehe
Yes� sorry hehe...! There is pär/ drums and bad jokes and Oscar/bass. Oscar just joined us after a few months without a bassplayer!

Yeah... I saw you guys at Augustibuller -02, but you played the bass there, and some guy that looked a little terrified played the guitar. Who was that guy?
Ahh... you mean Fredrik! We had a short romance with him while he was in the band, unfortunately he got himself a girlfriend who managed to get pregnant so we decided it was best for him to leave the band before it got too serious!

Hehe. ok. Since you live in a pretty small town (don't think it's even qualified to be called a town, hehe) I suppose it was fairly difficult to find a new bassplayer. Not too many people that listens to death metal...? How did the search go?
We advertised in music stores and on the "net" for a long time before oscar finally responded. Oscar lives in Örebro so he is pretty close when it�s time to rehearse. If we did not have a bigger town nearby we would be in serious trouble every time we loose a member. In Lindesberg everyone listen to fucking uscb all stars and shit...fucking pussys...

haha, USCB Allstars suck :)
Well, you'll be entering the studio soon to record your debut album, have you found a label to release it or are you just hoping?
We actually signed a contract a few months ago. It�s a Japanese label called "eclipse records"! First press will be released in 1000 copies. We have not agreed to a release date but I think it will happen pretty soon after we have finished the recording. The album will be called "tempest of torment" and will contain 10 brutal masterpieces that will fucking rip you apart!!

Cool! About time someone came to their senses and signed you.
Do you receive a big load of money for the studio or do you pay for that yourself?
No we pay for it ourselves. But we will get 1 usd per cd and 100 copies ourselves so we wont loose any money on this deal! We chose to record at a pretty small, unknown studio without a name. The guy that owns the studio is a close friend of ours and he is really a perfectionist!

Cool. And of course you will be sending me a free copy for reviewing at this awesome webzine called My Last Chapter ;) Will we be noticing any changes in music/lyrical style on the album from your last demo? You�ve developed quite a bit from demo to demo...
Yeah! We try to keep it more simple musically now. I think it is a lot faster too.
Lyrically we changed as well, we are writing more psychological lyrics... it�s hard to explain but we have left most of the zombie-lyrics behind this time. I think you can say that the lyrics are more aggressive now, there�s a lot of anger and frustration in them! Both Pär and me try to write more from the heart...kind of!

More simple musically? Hmm... Care to elaborate? :)
Some of your earlier lyrics are written with a humoristic touch I think (hope). Like "The Maggot Munch" where you feed your pet maggots with retarded people. Will the new lyrics be more serious then?
hahaha...... that�s really funny hehe..! Well you can be rest assured that they will be more serious. We where very inspired by "broken hope" then + Pär is really twisted when it comes to writing disgusting lyrics. What I mean with more simple music is that it�s more Malevolent Creation then Cannibal Corpse, I think that�s the easiest way of explaining it. Of course we have some old songs with some old lyrics on the album as well!

ahh... More grinding then :) Me like!
Will you try to tour a bit when the album is released to promote it?
It would be great to do that but we have not really talked about that. Hopefully we�ll a least do a little more shows then last year.

I expect you to tour Sweden with a big load of cool merchandise :)
Hmm, will there be any merchandise, like shirts and stuff?
We have plans for some t-shirts but nothing is decided yet. Hopefully we�ll have something finished at the release of the album.

I'd like to see a full colored hoodie with a picture of the girl from "Female Ejaculation" ;)
I don't think you guys have gotten the attention you deserve. I mean, you really kick ass and you can definitely handle your instruments, but still there haven't really been any talk about you in the "underground" and such. Why is that?
First of all I think we, ourselves are to blame!! We have been depending on other people to promote us from the beginning and they have failed to do that properly. We are pretty lazy when it comes to promoting ourselves but hopefully that will change from now on!
By the way: I don�t think anyone of us want anything to do with "female..." hehe. It�s a closed chapter! I think we�ll use the "my little pony" theme on the shirts anyway so....!

Hmm, are you taking a stand against the lyrics of your own song? :)
No... I�m taking a stand against PÄR�s lyrics to our own song...! Big difference... huge... haha. We don�t play much of the older songs now anyway so...!

haha. Well, well... I know a lot of people that would freak over the lyrics to that song and start screaming that it's sexist and so on. But you have to be able to joke about pretty much anything. I guess that I'll get a big angry crowd gathered outside my window now. I 'm definitely not sexist, and I've been active in anti-sexist movements, but still you have to be able to take jokes and such with a pinch of salt. It's kind of a Lord Belial "Purify Sweden"- syndrome.
Well, well... Now to the interview again and I'll stop propagating :)... How did you get in contact with Eclipse Records anyway? I have to be honest and say that I don't think I really know of any other releases from them. Is it a fairly small label?
Yeah it�s really small! I think it was Hitoshi (the owner I guess) that sent me a mail about some demo he heard (probably "experiment...") and asked us to send him more material and stuff. This happened over a year ago so it has been a while since we first talked to him. I don�t remember any names of the bands he released but it�s mainly very small bands.

For a very small label it's a pretty good deal for you. Sure you have to pay for the studio yourself but you get 100 copies for free and 1$ for every sold copy. That's cool!
Will you try to promote yourselves more when the album is out then?
Yeah that�s the idea! it will be a little "bigger" then running around selling demo�s and stuff. We will try to keep the price down on the album as a protest against the outrageous cd-prices we�re dealing with today. I have not bought a cd for like 6 months or something, I download everything from the internet!
Slap my face and call me cheap but that�s how it works... haha..

I know what you mean. The hunger for profit can not only be found in the pop-scene, it can also be found in the metal-scene. I haven't bought a new record for ages either, but that's 'cause I have no money :)
I think I'm running out of questions now... Hmm, how do you see the future for Relentless?
I think it looks kind of bright! We have a line-up that seam to work and everyone is ready to put some effort in the band to make everything work out.
As soon as the album is "out" we will promote ourselves as much as possible and do some shows and stuff like that. Hopefully in 10 years or something you can do a up-date interview or something...hahaha..!

hahaha. Hopefully in 10 years you guys will have stopped playing death metal since you've grown old and have grown out of that sort of things ;)
I wish you guys the best of luck and I hope you will get a bright and clear future. I guess that's it for the interview. Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions... Anything you'd like to end this with?
Actually I think I�ve said just about enough but check out our website : www.relentlessgrind.com
We are also looking for a webmaster so if anyone is interested just contact me! The address is on the website.
Stay brutal and don�t forget the seatbelt!!!