War can be perceived in many different ways. Some feel it a necessary measure to maintain freedom, security and national sovereignty or even a means of gaining vital, natural resources. Others see war as the rich profiting at the expense of human life. Whether a proponent or opponent, no one can argue against the profound impact armed conflict has on society. It has been this way since the dawn of civilization. A search through archives would most likely reveal war-themed songs from every musical genre. If there is one musical style, though, that seems specifically created for relating the violence, thunderous clamor and tragedy of war, it is death metal.
Death metal offers a vast library of songs on the topic of war. British battering ram, Bolt Thrower made a career out of albums of this sort. The fact that Martin Van Drunen’s latest album …Of Frost and War recreates the epic battles on the Eastern Front in WWII may not come as such a surprise considering his time spent in Bolt Thrower. This album comes by way of Hail of Bullets—a name that delivers exactly what it suggests. Said album uses gruesome lyrics, booming drums, grinding guitars and psychotic growls to create a sordid picture of many of the events that defined the monumental clashes on the Eastern Front.
…Of Frost and War is Hail of Bullet’s first major step in their career, although the experience of each member is evident in the quality of their recording. All the members of this group played a hand in bringing death metal to Holland: Martin Van Drunen kick-started the career of Pestilence and Asphyx, Paul Baayens, Stephan Gebedi and Theo Van Eekelen all play or have played in Thanatos, and Ed Warby beats the skins for Gorefest.
Guitarist, Stephan Bebedi enthusiastically spoke to Blistering.com on the above topics, as well as addressing other subject concerning Hail of Bullets.
Blistering.com: How did Hail of Bullets form?
Stephan Gebedi: I already had thought about forming a band together with Ed (drums) years ago, but because of various circumstances (the reformation of Thanatos and the Gorefest reunion for instance), it never really happened. In 2005 or 2006, my other band Thanatos did a show with Martin van Drunen's then band, Death by Dawn, and we started talking about this idea again. We kept in touch and this time I really undertook some action to make this happen: I mobilised the other guys, who are all more or less friends of mine, we got together for a few drinks, got totally pissed, found out that we clicked pretty well on a personal level and decided to form this band.
Blistering.com: What was the recording process like for …Of Frost and War?
SG: We recorded all instruments and vocals in Excess studios in Rotterdam, Holland. We more or less produced it ourselves together with Hans Pieters, who runs the studio. We recorded four rhythm guitar tracks and also recorded 'clean' tracks for all guitars. After finishing the recordings, we sent everything to Dan Swanö in Sweden and he actually re-amped the clean guitar tracks that we recorded, i.e. sent, those tracks through various different guitar amps to create that massive 'chainsaw deluxe' guitar sound that we wanted.
Blistering.com: Dan Swanö (ex-Bloodbath, Edge of Sanity) mixed and mastered the album. How much did you work with Swanö on the mix and mastering? Did he help you create a sound that you wanted?
SG: Dan already worked with on us on our promo/demo-CD, so he knew exactly what we wanted. Of course, both he and we wanted the full length album to sound even more massive than that 4-track promo, but that was easier said than done. It took quite a few different mixes and mastering versions until both we and Dan were fully satisfied. Since Dan prefers to work alone, we kept in touch with him via phone/email during the mixing process. This was a little hectic sometimes, but in the end everything worked out fine.
Blistering.com: Swanö provides guest vocals on “Ordered Eastward.” How did he get involved on this track? What did his vocals do for this portion of the track?
SG:Being a big fan of Martin's vocals, Dan had one 'demand' when he agreed to mix our album and promo; he definitely wanted to do some vocals on one of the tracks. So we wrote the words for the mid part of “Ordered Eastward” and told him to sing it the way he wanted. I think his vocal part sounds like a bit of a role play. Martin's singing the lines in the third person, telling us how the Germans are advancing to the eastern front, and then Dan comes in and actually sounds like one of the Germans singing it from his point of view. I think it sounds awesome and makes the song sound much more "alive!”
Blistering.com: The guitars have a deep, raw sound. How did you achieve this sound? What tuning, equipment, etc. did you use?
SG: We used a drop B-tuning, neck-thru B.C. Rich guitars with very thick strings (I for instance use Elixir Baritone strings .012-.68). The actual raw sound was created by Dan; he has some little tricks and secrets that he keeps to himself. Right now we're trying to reproduce the album sound with our own amps and that works pretty well, Paul uses a basic Marshall JCM800 2210 head and 1960 Marshall cabinets and I just bought the Marshall JCM800 2203 Kerry King Signature Head which works wonderfully well. My Marshall cabinets have a combination of Greenback and Vintage 30 speakers and we're coming pretty close to the album sound I must say.
Blistering.com: Hail of Bullet’s sound reverts back to the early days of death metal, which is the period when each member started his career. How did you bring back those classic elements, yet manage to update your sound?
SG: Like you said, we grew up with this sound, so it's more or less in our blood. We did listen to a lot of other, more modern stuff as well these past years and we're not afraid to use modern techniques. So yes, we play classic death metal, but we use some modern elements and techniques to lift that style to the present.
Blistering.com: Martin’s (Van Drunen) voice still sounds as sick as when he first put it down with Pestilence in the late 1980s. How has he kept you voice is such great condition?
SG: A lot of beer! Really, that's all I can say about it, haha! Martin's voice seems to be in pretty good shape most of the time and I also think that this particular kind of death metal suits his vocal style more than anything else.
Blistering.com: …Of Frost and War appears to be a concept album. What is this album’s story?
SG: It's basically about WWII, especially about the battles on the Eastern front, which turned out to be very important for the remainder of the war. The story is told from both points of view; the first couple of songs are about the Germans and their victories and strategic moves, and then you see the Russians cleaning up their acts and kicking the Germans' arses! We're simply telling the historical events in a more or less chronologic order, there's no political message, whatsoever.
Hail of Bullets Interview Page One << you are here
