Hypocrisy, one of the very few good Death Metal bands from Sweden are back with a new album "Into the Abyss", which we of course had to ask a few questions about. As Peter Tägtgren has been exposed in media to such an extent lately, we though it would be interesting to hear what Mikael Hedlund had to say about this great album insted.

Interview by Whodan

Hypocrisy was the only extreme Metal band at the Swedish Hultsfred festival, earlier this year. Was it a good gig?

Yes, It was great! We got a great response from the audiance, It was really special to play here in Sweden since we have'nt done that for a while.

Did a lot of people show up?

Yes, it was packed. We did not expect that many people to show up so that was great.

The new Hypocrisy album "Into the Abyss" is a bit more brutal than your last albums. Are you going back to your roots as so many bands are doing today?
No that was nothing that we planned, the only thing that we said before we began to compose the songs was that we should pick up some influences from our previous albums and try to make a good mix of some old and some new influences without no compromises.

It seems like you did some of the music very spontanous while recording the songs. Do you feel that Hypocrisy is developing more and more into a studioproject?
Well, no we stay the same. We do as we always have done, since that has worked really satisfactory for us. We don't think we need to rehearse several times a week. Instead we rehearse a long time before we go into the studio or on tour.

Would it be nice if Hypocrisy was more like a "real", doing tours, rehearsing a few times each week etc. or is it good the way it is now?

Well, we are touring at least once a year plus several festivals shows. We like It the way It is since we all have other things beside, but rehearsing for tours and composing takes up most of our time. There is a lot of work behind that does'nt always show.

We all know about Peter's various projects, but what about you. Are you having any activities related to music besides Hypocrisy?
No, Hypocrisy takes up most of my spare time. But me and two members from Dark Funeral might put together a project but we will see what happens.

While "Hypocrisy" was more complex and a very untraditional Death Metal album, "Into the Abyss" is as said more brutal and slightly more traditional. Why this change?
As I sad, that was nothing that we planned ahead, It just came natural.

How do you think your music is going to develop from here?
It's hard to tell, we will see when we will start to compose the songs for the next album. But It will sound like hypocrisy.

About the title "Into the Abyss", is this pointing to Peter's studio in any way as some people think, or is there any different meaning behind it?
It was something that Lars came up with one day while recording in the studio, and we thought It was quite ironic and we also thought that It fitted in pretty good music vice.

According to what I've heard you will go on tour with Destruction and some other bands soon. Is this going to be like a real & long tour, since Hypocrisy so seldom tour?

Well, we are going on tour for two weeks in the middle of September to begin. We also have another tour booked for December together with Morbid Angel and a several other bands. That tour will also be for two weeks. In between that we have some shows in Turky, Greece and probably Israel.

Do you think you are going to do any gigs in Scandinavia?
I'm not sure but we are probably going to do at least one show in Sweden. That's all I know for now, but I hope there will be some more, It should be fun!

Death Metal has undoubtedly stagnted as a genre, it has become very stale and repetative! Is there any new Death Metal bands that you in these days?
It's hard to keep count of all new upcoming bands. But I think there will always be new good upcoming bands to keep the genre alive.