Ever heard of Triumphator? Well, I guess most of you haven't since they are a fairly new act. This eminent Swedish Black Metal act recently released its 7" "The Ultimate Sacrifice", which should attract those who still are into the most extreme forms of BM and not into the common emotional shit. Fast, extreme and violent as it should be! Read and see what bass/guitar player Tena, the man behind Shadow Records had to say.

Interview by Whodan

 

The single "The Ultimate Sacrifice" is now surprisingly out through Mark Of The Devil instead of your own label Shadow Records. How come?

 

Well it's not really that surprisingly, because I didn't want to release it on Shadow in the first place. And I wanted to have it released fast, and if I should have made it myself, then I had to choose between releasing my own 7" before some other releases, and of course I didn't want that... It would look stupid, at least in my eyes. And when Kim of Near Dark Prod. said he could release it on their new started subblabel Mark of the Devil, then there was no hesitation.

The songs on the singel were both hyper fast and didn’t include any calmer parts. Have you ever considered of including some calmer parts as variation or will you stick to extreme ultra fast songs only?
Well I'll probably gonna make some calmer parts...But it won't be much of that. This is how I want Black Metal to sound, and I'll keep it that way... Total Chaos!

 

Both lyrics on the single were made by your session musicians. Have they contributed with anything else? Will they contribute with more lyrics in the future?
Well in some ways, with some ideas, like the total sick solo on "Redeemer of Chaos" was Arioch's idea. And it's fuckin brilliant! But other then that it wasn't anything I think. Yes, hopefully they'll do more lyrics for future releases. Also some other people.

How many copies were made of the single?
The first press is only 300 copies I think. And I guess they'll have to do some more than that. And it'll be released as a CD single by the American label Holycaust Records, digipack version and a jewelbox version. And this is really great, we're working with the layout for this right now, and the CDs will hopefully be released within some months.

Your fullenght album was actually supposed to be recorded in 1997 but that never happened. When do you think you will record the album?
Actually we should have recorded it in 96, (signed with Necropolis in summer of 96) but everything went wrong so... But we'll hopefully do it this year, as it looks right now. And as it seems we'll do it through Blooddawn Productions instead of Necropolis... But you never know what happens, haha.

Wouldn't it be better to release it through Necropolis, which should have a much better distribution?
Well, maybe it would be better to release it through Necropolis, but with the way they've treated me until now with a deal we made label to label (nothing to do with Triumphator,just Shadow Rec) then I see no reason that they will do it better up front... And yes they have good distribution... But Blooddawn have a very big distribution net also, so this will be no problem... And then we've a label based in Sweden. And that I can trust to 100%.

How do you think the songs on the album differs from the single?
The songs will probably not differ that much, the 2 single songs will be on it, and I've like 5 songs since the 96 line up that I'll re-arrange a bit, and then I've to make maybe 2-3 more songs... And it'll definately be violent.. No fucking doom pace.

Will you use the same session musicians as on the single or will you be looking for permanent members?

 

Yes, Fredrik from Marduk will do the drumming on the album as well as Arioch will do vocals and guitar, Morgan (Marduk) will play guitar, and I'll do the bass (on the single I played the guitar instead of Morgan). And I'll not look for any permanent members, since it'll be to hard to find such great musicians. But... who knows?

I can’t recall having heard anything about Triumphator playing live. Are there any chances for us to see Triumphator live?
Nah, we have never played live, and I guess we won't do it either. But as I said who knows?

Triumphator is actually a fairly new act. Have you been in any other bands prior to Triumphator?

 

No, Triumphator is my first band and was started in 95, so we are fairly a new act yes.

Let’s talk about your label Shadow Records... You recently signed Ofermod, one of Swedens rawest BM bands. Have ever considered of signing some Death or Thrash Metal bands as well?
Ofermod is one of the most brilliant Black Metal bands ever! I'm really looking forward to have the honour to release their CD. I don't think I'll sign some Death or Thrash bands no. I've Weltmacht (with members from Algaion and Sorhin) and some of their stuff is very Morbid Angel influenced, but that's probably how close to Death Metal I'll come on Shadow. Black Metal is my thing, and so it shall be. I hope that I'll also have the pleasure to release the Funeral Mist CD.

You have only signed Swedish bands so far. Will you stick to this?
Well if I find a really excellent band from abroad, then I'll of course do my best to have them signed to Shadow Records. It's just the natural way that we have only Swedish bands for the moment, you know we make the best music...

Isn't "Buried By Time And Dust" THE best Black Metal song ever?
No, the whole "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas" album is the best. (It certinately is! But the song "Buried By Time And Dust" reigns! - ed.)