(Yesterday we premiered a full stream of the new album by the Swedish death metal band Toxaemia — which will be out tomorrow via Emanzipation Productions — and today we follow that with our French contributor Zoltar‘s excellent interview of Toxaemia co-founder and bassist Pontus Cervin.)
Before the internet and Ebay (later on, Discogs) ruined it all, collecting obscure early extreme metal items was a fun if sometimes quite frustrating adventure. These days, even the least memorable and 134th Entombed copycat gets the momentary chance to shine thanks to all those reissues flooding the market and surfing on the general impression that artistically speaking the early ’90s were the golden years of Swedish death metal (spoiler: they were). But three decades ago, the genre was deemed ‘passé’ and most of the bigger bands were left to choose between jumping on the bandwagon or splitting up, whereas the low-profiled or unlucky ones were simply buried six feet under, seemingly forever.
For a long time, Toxaemia was first and foremost remembered as topping the ‘impossible to find’ list of early SweDeath items next to Expulsion, Goddefied or Mastication. Released in January 1991 on the mighty Seraphic Decay imprint, their sole ‘real’ release, the Beyond The Realm EP, with its thrashier take on classic death metal would quite often fetch insanely large sums of money whenever one copy would happen to pop up on Ebay.
While the more-than-welcome collection of all their recordings put out by Dark Descent Records in 2010 suggested a potential reunion was in the cards, it took them another seven years to make it happen. And another three to put out their first proper album Where Paths Divide… thirty-one years after they initially formed in Motala in central Sweden.
As they’re about to release its follow-up, Rejected Souls Of Kerberus, I took some time to talk to their bass player and founding member Pontus Cervin about the pros and cons of being a cult band and playing death metal along young fellas who weren’t even born when Left Hand Path hit the rack.
For a start, let’s go backwards a bit. Would you say that Where Paths Divide serve its purpose? Meaning that after a twenty-plus-year wait, you guys were finally given the opportunity to fulfil that promise made back in 1989 when you first formed the band, to really show what you were all about, innit?
That is an easy question to answer – yes, it did serve its purpose. We had an idea that Where Paths Divide was going to be the album we never released back in the early nineties. So, we wanted the whole album to feel like it was released in 1992: the sound, the cover art, and of course, the songs – and in my opinion, we nailed that.
On the other hand, what were the pros and cons of releasing your debut CD twenty-nine years after your EP?
In that respect, I am sure it would have been better to release an album much sooner, because we had some good stuff brewing back then. But on the other hand, you could argue that we have had tweny-nine years to grow as people and musicians, which has been an advantage.
What was the feedback you received? Who in the end bought the album? Mostly old-timers who waited so long for an album? New fans who weren’t even born when Beyond The Realm was first released? A mix of both?
On the whole we got very good feedback, both from the press and fans. But then again I suppose people are not going to come up to you, and tell you your album is no good. As far who bought it, its definitely a mix of both young and old. The cool thing nowadays is how much more accepted and understood extreme metal is, so we have the opportunity to reach a much broader audience today than back in ’89 or ’90. It’s cool when we play live – it’s a mix of old dudes and dudettes like us, and people like you say, who weren’t even born back when we released Beyond the Realm.
Talking of your reunion, I never knew why it didn’t happen back in 2010 when DARK DESCENT RECORDS put together all your past recordings for the great Buried To Rise compilation. This would have been the perfect time to come back from the dead, so why didn’t it happen?
The three of us (Emil, Stevo, and me) (all three original members) were still living in different parts of Sweden back then. In addition to that, they were busy building families, and I was working in jobs that kept me busy and on the road most of the time. So, the stage was not set for us at that time, I would say.
Is it fair to say that you three remain the core of TOXAEMIA and thus no reunion could have happened without those three?
That was certainly the way we viewed it back then. TOXAEMIA has been our creation, and when we started rehearsing again in 2017, it was always going to be the three of us to start it up again. We have since then done things both with and without Emil, but he is always a member of this band, whether he plays the drums or not. (A few days after the interview was conducted, it was officially announced that Emil would step away for the band, and be replaced live by Niklas Holmberg from VAMPIRE.)
That being said, all three basically moved away from the extreme metal scene altogether from 1991 onwards, until the reunion, that is. Was it a good thing to just drop out, so you could come back with a fresh perspective, maybe?
With hindsight, I actually think it was a good thing. We needed to do something else for a while. None of us thought we would have a 25-year break from things, but life goes on, you know. Things happen, and all of a sudden, your best friends are all living in the same town again. And we started things up with fresh minds and, as you say, a fresh perspective.
Was Where Paths Divide a way for you to tap the waters or was it clear right from the get-go that this was the ‘real’ start of the band’s career with further releases waiting to happen?
We just wanted to make an album, really. We always thought that we would do that back in the nineties before we took our break. But after we had released Where Paths Divide, we soon realised there was more inspiration and songs to write.
Were your new vocalist Dennis and then lead guitarist Rasmus well aware of what TOXAEMIA was all about, or did you have to ‘teach’ them?
You should really ask them and not me, but I think they knew what they were getting themselves into. We have not had to teach them any more than what they have taught us. We are a band and we work together, and we are stronger because of Anton Petrovic our new lead guitar player, Dennis Johansson, and Rasmus Axelsson. They bring their strengths and flavour to the band.
Was the debut album made out of mostly unreleased material from the early ’90s right before you split up, or was it fresh stuff only?
No, most of it was new material. We took “Hate Within” and “Buried to Rot” from the last demo/EP recording we did back in 1991, reworked them with Perra, Rasmus, and Dennis with the intention of making them better than the demos. All the other songs were new for the album.
Were you disappointed to see Perra Karlsson (former DESTRÖYER666, SUFFER and a thousand more) sticking around for the album only? On the other hand, getting Emil (another founding member) back must have been important for you, wasn’t it? Why did he have to drop out in 2019?
Yeah, well, Perra has been a friend to the band since back in 1990, I think, so for him to step in, first of all, was a great honour. Such a great drummer and just a great guy to begin with. So yes, seeing him leave the band was a blow. We had hoped we could have done more together. But again, life happens and it was not to be. But as you say, it meant that Emil came back after trying a few other options. And we are thrilled to have him back with us on this new album. We have now finally done an album together, just as we talked about back in the nineties.
When did you start exactly working on this second album?
Oh wow, that happened almost immediately after we recorded all the songs for WPD. We were full of songs and inspiration. I think “Hunger” from the new album was the first song written.
Weren’t you a tad apprehensive to get started? I mean, in a way, one could say doing the first one was easy so to speak… People had been waiting for a proper TOXAEMIA album for almost three decades, and you had that ‘member of the first wave of Swedish death metal generation’ tag working in your favour too. But now the element of surprise is gone and one has to build a discography in the long run, if you see what I mean…
That is a really great question, but in all honesty, no. We were just very inspired to get going with the songwriting. So, I don’t think that thought came up until recently when I realised we had recorded all the stuff and sent it off to Dan Swanö for mix and master. Then I started thinking about difficult sophomore albums and stuff like that. But we try to write songs that we like to hear, and the way I see it, if we like the songs, odds are a few more might just like them too.
In the end, it took you almost four years to come up with Rejected Souls of Kerberus. Why did it take you so long?
That is a long story in itself. Basically, we had most songs written on a sort of demo level quite shortly after the first album was released. Then Perra left the band, and it took us a long time to find our way back to our old drummer. As I said, we tried a few other options, but it took us a while. After that, Rasmus decided to leave the band, so back to the drawing board. Find a new lead guitar player. But we found Anton, and then the recording process began. And we took our time with this too – the recording was not done in a rush. So that is your answer there.
What would you answer to those who would say that Kerberus is another album ‘stuck’ in 1990?
I don’t know – if they feel it is, then perhaps it is. I feel we have taken steps to make a more modern album. But we are an old-school death metal band, and we don’t want to be anything else.
The easy way out would be to say that TOXAEMIA is in direct link with GRAVE, ENTOMBED, or DISMEMBER. Is it accurate or not? As far as I know, you haven’t pushed your HM-2 pedal to the max or are downtuned, aren’t you?
We have never, and I want to be clear about this, never used an HM-2 pedal in all our time as a band. We downtune, for sure, but perhaps not as much as the Stockholm sound bands you mention. All those guys are our friends, but we do not see ourselves as part of that sound. We have always been more inspired by the American and British death metal.
On the other hand, you did give a stick to beat you with since you’ve included here a cover of DISMEMBER’s “I Saw Them Die,” didn’t you?
I suppose that is one way of looking at it. We were asked to be a part of Base Record Production’s tribute to Dismember’s Dreaming in Red, Dreaming in Death. So, we recorded this song for that tribute, and then we were so happy with the result that we thought it deserved a place on the new album.
Is a new song like “Ex Odio” a way for you to explore other avenues and potentially plant seeds for the future?
It is a little different from the rest of the songs, for sure. But I think one of the strengths of this album is the variation. In “Ex Odio,” for sure, we have something slower and heavier. In “Dawn of the Enslaved,” we are leaning much more towards the Viking/Folk Death vibe, whereas “M.A.O.D.” and “Follow the Leader” are more old-school death metal. And “Blood Red” and “Hunger” are thrash death, perhaps – in my ears, anyway. I will let everyone make up their own mind, but to me, this is a very varied album within the old-school death genre.
What’s next for you guys?
We have a lot planned and a few things not yet finalised. But first off, we do a release party together with our friends in Farsoth and Sabancaya on the 22nd of November in Bomber Bar, Motala, Sweden. So, that’s going to be a night to remember.
Right after that, we go on a European tour with the mighty Vader on the Freezing Hell Tour 2024! The twelve-day trek will stop in Scandinavia plus countries like Lithuania, Poland, Latvia, and Estonia and we will be teasing some of the tracks from Rejected Souls of Kerberus, plus some classics.
Also planned for 2025 is Nice to Eat You Deathfest in the Czech republic and Massaker Pod Tatrami 3 in Slovakia in May. But as I said, a lot in the works, so more to come.
Rejected Souls of Kerberus:
Webshop: https://bit.ly/tx-kerb
Digital: https://bfan.link/rejected-souls-of-kerberus
Toxaemia:
https://www.facebook.com/ToxaemiaSweden/
https://www.instagram.com/toxaemia_sweden