Nominon – Where No Life Dwells
By: David E. Gehlke
Blistering.com: To these ears, Monumentomb expands on what you did with Terra Necrosis, but it’s dare I say, more brutal, more catchy. Now that the album is in the books, how do you think it stacks up in relation to your older albums?
Karlsson: I agree with you man, the new one definitely are more brutal and catchy in many ways. We have matured a lot throughout the years not only as song writers but also as musicians. We like to challenge ourselves pretty much, and that can be heard when you listen to songs like "Undead Beast,” "Mountain Of Hate" and "Worship" from the new album. Some of them are dead-on brutal, but at the same time very immediate and played with strong conviction and lots of attitude. The mix within the songs are also very important one could say, from blasting parts that never seems to end, to classic metal hints and then turn into a demonic double bass drum assault. But when you put this new album in the shelf with the rest of them (older albums) you will be surprised, because it doesn't really matter which album you will listen to, you will hear that it is Nominion. I believe it has something to do with the guitar work, but also the fact that we've not slowed down or tried to make songs more commercial or melodic or whatever. Nominion are death metal, and that is something we will eternally stand proud performing.
Blistering.com: Perhaps another cool thing about the new album is that it sounds fresh; it appears you're not just rehashing old ideas and resting on your laurels. I'd say "Wrath of Shiva" is the best indicator of this, but for you, which songs have left a lasting impression?
Karlsson: All of them, really. The opener "Mantra Reverse" for example is such a bomb. The brutality is untouchable. Yet I have to say that "Undead Beast" is a song that we will most likely continue to play live for ages. This is the perfect mixture of sheer grinding insanity and classic metal. The track "Omen" that is both on the EP (that we released prior to the new CD) and the album itself is another song that we are damn satisfied with, it's just such a blend of merciless aggression and unholy determination. "Wrath Of Shiva" was actually the first song written for the new album, a very extreme piece of art. It's also nice to hear that you don’t label Nominion as just another old school death metal band, as some of the journalists out there do all the time. All I can say to them; listen to the whole album for fuck sake, there's so much variety on the album that some of you would most probably not even understand or notice the half of it.
Blistering.com: Take me back to when the band started in 1993, when Swedish death metal was at its arguable peak. Was it like being in the thick of the scene, with a new band no less?
Karlsson: Nominion started out of pure malevolent energy by Juha and Peter, two guys that wanted to write outstanding death metal. Peter decided to leave the band to concentrate on his black metal project Fafner. Juha went on and brought in some guys and all of a sudden Nominion were a full band of five members. The basic idea and concept (write interesting death metal with lots of variation and hooks) have stand strong since day one. During the first years, between 1993 to 1998 the band released several demo tapes and built up a strong underground following that have lasted ever since. Since 1999 Nominion can be considered as an international album-releasing unit, even though we had a little bit of a lower period during 2002 and 2003 due to the fact that I ended up sick with kidney failure that later ended up with me going through a successful transplant.
Blistering.com: Since you’ve been active for so long, how does it feel being “elder statesmen” of the Swedish death metal scene?
Karlsson: This isn't something that we spend time thinking about. We know what we want to achieve with the band Nominion and that is writing, performing and releasing killer death metal material on any possible format. We would still continue to be a band even if we got dropped by a label or whatever you know, for us it's not about being big and famous, the main goal is to be satisfied with the songs we write and arrange at our rehearsal room. The music is the key to the energy, honestly.
Blistering.com: Are there any new bands, either European or North American that you find interesting?
Karlsson: Let me think for a second. Not really. It depends on what you mean with "new" bands?! I really like the debut album Rotten Death with Tormented from Sweden, who are old friends of mine who certainly surprised with their crushing rotten death. If you're in for more progressive Metal then I would say that the debut album by Point of Existence from Stockholm really got me hooked. They're probably too progressive for their own good. After all I'm a total sucker for the legendary bands that still release good fucking death, black and thrash Metal albums and play live, like Malevolent Creation, Slayer, Morbid Angel, Satyricon, Testament, Immolation, Exodus and so on. These guys know what the heck they are doing, and they would never let anyone down. Their genuine intensity and never-ending persistency is larger than life itself.
Blistering.com: Finally, what’s on tap for the rest of 2010?
Karlsson: Besides doing the shows in Sweden and in the USA we're planning to release a DVD including a documentary that we did after the US tour 2008, it's about an hour long full of various behind-the-scenes and live clips. We're not sure that it'll be released this year though, but we're working on it. We are also in the talks of doing some split 7" EP's with a few bands. We'll most likely also be doing shows in Germany, Holland, Denmark, Spain, Italy and some other countries later on. Right now we got two new songs written that we're looking forward to record demos for as well, there's always some shit going on around here. New merchandise, including the first ever NOMINON backpatch will be out soon. Behold!
www.myspace.com/nominon
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