Lord of Damnation with Helldrifter
Art: Brian Mercer
Helldrifter is a death metal band from Stuttgart, southern Germany, with some influences from thrash and melodic death metal. It is heavily inspired by death metal giants, such as Carcass, Cannibal Corpse, Death and At The Gates. The music can go from straight thrash to more complex death metal parts; when the melodies are present, it can take you to harmonic paths that remind bands such as Children Of Bodom or even Dark Tranquillity. The band’s lyrical themes are focused mostly on mysticism, sociological issues, horror movies and video games, with a heavy dose of surrealism. Helldrifter’s music is fast, dark and groovy. From my perspective, Helldrifter is the balance of my life’s steelyard that weighs all the shit that lies inside my head.
We have about ten new songs; half of the material is finished, and for the rest, we are putting some finishing touches on them. We thought it would be challenging because we had to work as a new unit and have a new bass player. But somehow, it became very natural. We laid the foundations and slowly built up the structure upon it. So now we work like a well-oiled machine.
The band’s lyrical themes are focused mostly on mysticism, sociological issues, horror movies, and video games, with a heavy dose of surrealism. Sometimes it just captures the thoughts of a certain chapter of my life.
The world and all the f*cked-up things around us and inside of us are the main sources of our inspiration. Sometimes a good book leads me to the textbook, and sometimes a good movie. The last book I read is “Rebel Without a Crew” by Robert Rodriguez. Based on real events, this guy sacrificed his health to fund his first movie, which became an all-time classic. How many things could go wrong? What if it was just for nothing? But aren’t we asking those things daily? The fact that he took that high risk, it just blew my mind.
Music is an expression of life. No matter how I look at it, it’s like a vortex that sucks everything I throw at it. What comes out from the other side is what we may call art. I am very spiritual, but I don’t consider myself religious, even if I’m trying to find an answer daily. The way of the soul is the way that guides our mind and spirit. If you take these things out of the human being, we are nothing more than an empty shell. Science is, for some, a reality check for all the things we romanticize. It’s the opposite; I could talk for hours about the stars, physics, and how this world functions. It just fascinates me to understand this whole place that we live in. I’m more into rock’n’roll, a sexual connection with a human I love and a good use of intellect. But to be honest, to each their own. Like Hunter Thompson once said: “Anything that gets your blood racing is probably worth doing.”
My brother introduced me in 1993 to bands such as Deep Purple, Whitesnake and Rainbow. After that introduction, it was like a gateway drug to other heavier bands, such as Metallica, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Slayer, Motorhead, Sepultura, etc. But I was constantly searching for new things to listen to as well. Nirvana, Offspring and Green Day were the shit back in the day, of course, with some big criticism from many of my more “True Metal” friends. But I didn’t give a shit what they thought about it. It was a rebellion against a very strict and conservative society I was living in, and the answer to that was rock n roll. I got even more profound with all the lyrics and artwork and even searched for all the hidden things on the Iron Maiden album covers. There are tons of records I consider my favourites. Still, I think Metallica’s Master of Puppets, Black Sabbath’s Heaven and Hell and Sepultura Arise are the records I still consider all-time classics.
Music is an artistic expression that lasted centuries in human history and is considered the voice of the soul for many human beings worldwide. You will find the answer if you take music away for a while. But to be honest, I wouldn’t dare to try out that method.
www.helldrifter.com
