They play a very special death metal in Denmark. Just recollect the early albums of ILLDISPOSED, DOMINUS, INIQUITY... PANZERCHRIST continues to maintain the glorious traditions of quite original Danish death with its second album "Outpost - Fort Europe". Their new album, as well as the desire to pay more attention to Danish Kingdom death maniacs, were the basic reasons for our interview with the band. Their first album was titled "Six Seconds Kill." Well, I am not sure about "six seconds", but their music is really a "kill"!

Among all "militarized" band names I know, PANZERCHRIST sounds more than just extraodinary. Since when did Christ join army, Lasse?

There is no real story behind the name, but it is always the same when you try to come up with names, it always has to be original, new, and it has to sound catchy. So I came up with the name and the others liked it. So we stuck with it!

Your idea to send Jesus Christ to military service may sound abusive to benevolent Christian citizens. Do you support Satanism? Or, maybe, you're more into military stuff?

I don't really care, we are not the religious types! Can't really comment on that, sorry!

How did your panzer unit get together?

Well, when Michael - the drummer - left ILLDESPOSED, he was looking for a new band, and I was jamming with a fun death metal project called ANGEL ACCELERATER DEATH back in 1994. So we got together and after a year we formed PANZERCHRIST. We made a demo at the end of '95, sent it to Jakob Hansen of SE. and we got a deal. We made the "Six..." album and now we have made the second one! There have been of course a lot of changes over the years, basically there were Michael and me who run the band. I think we have had about 20 people in the band in and out! I really don't know why, may be because of Michael - he can be a pain in the ass sometimes!

Sure, haemorrhoids is not the best "present" for a musician, haha! I know your albums were rather low budget, weren't they?

The two records was recorded with Jakob Hansen in a small studio in the south of Denmark. Both albums took only seven days to record and mix (including getting drunk every other day) - which is fast. But we are all hard workers. There are also a lot of mistakes and drawbacks on them, but Jakob made a nice sound, I think!

How does your local, Danish undergound scene look like nowadays?

It sucks! It is not what it has been, like in the '80s and early '90s. There is not much left, I am sorry to say that! But there are still a lot of bands here in Denmark!

It goes without saying, that Danish bands have their own sounding. How could you comment on that fact? May be, it happens due to the fact that all the bands record their albums at the same studio?

Of course, a lot of bands use the same studios, either because it's cheap, or may be people want the same sound as other bands have.

Is it difficult for a Danish band to promote its musical stuff in Denmark, to sign a deal with a label overseas?

I don't think it is hard to promote, it depends on how much you put into it yourself. There are a lot of things to do about it. In the old days there were tons of flyers everywhere (there still are), but we use the Internet now, which is good I think, and also it's easy and cheap to make CD's today. So, if you want to be seen and heard - you can do it, but it also depends on how good your music is! Of course it's a bit harder to get an overseas deal, unless you come from Sweden, where the best music is, I think, and it's original!

A lot of musicians complain that they don’t receive enough money to make their living from music. Is it the case with you? As far as I know, Denmark is a highly developed country, thus I may guess that you could live better than your colleagues in other countries...

Most bands in metal genre are lucky to sell more than 1500 - 2000 CD's. There is always a little pocket money. We haven't earned anything yet, maybe Jacob has all the money, but we do this for fun, at least I do!

What are your lyrics about?

Love, war and hate - the basic death metal lyrics!

Oh yeah: zombies and gore are more like an exception! There is a female on bass in PANZERCHRIST. Does she influence the band’s creative process? Or may be females produce a heavier sound?

Yes, yes and yes! I knew Karina, she also played bass in a thrash metal band. We needed a bass player, so I asked her and she joined the band. Michael fell in love with her, it has then became a "Yoko Ono & John Lennon" type of thing. She plays keybords now. Woman can ruin a band. It happened with THE BEATLES, and it happened with PANZERCHRIST!

I can't believe that a delicate woman can destory the friendship between panzer comandos like you! Well, anyway... Do you have any closing comments to your Russian soldiers?

I hope you like "Outpost..." and please buy it! We need money! I also need a girlfriend...

Lasse, weren't YOU telling me that woman can ruin a band?