All Interviews
The Berzerker
Sam during the masked days
Posted on Feb 7, 2006
by Anders
The Berzerker the extreme Australian band, loathed or loved. They deliver fast and brutal, noisy and straight in your face speedcore mixed with death metal, though it's not all about speed, even though that is what the band is most known for. The unexpected is a big part of the world of The Berzerker as well, and that is something they deliver on their new album "World Of Lies", a real basher released by Earache Records. I have had a chat with bassist and vocalist Sam, so I could get a glimpse of what fuels the fire in the band.
Hi there, how is the summer treating you down in Australia?
Seeing as though I'm in the UK right now, the Australian summer is treating me totally unkindly. It's fucking freezing here and all I hear on the news is how there's a heatwave back home.
Will you please start off by introducing yourself and tell us why you play your metal in The Berzerker?
My name is Sam, I play bass and do some of the vocals for the band, and I play in The Berzerker because I'm one lucky son of a bitch. I joined the band just when Luke came back from the UK with the offer of a contract with Earache and have been around ever since. I couldn't play with another band now, too much has been achieved with The Berzerker for me to go back to the start again.
A small introduction of the rest of the band, together with a bit about their strong and weak sides as well, will be greatly appreciated!
Well, there's the Berzerker himself aka Luke Kenny. His strong side is he's totally fearless and driven like no-one I've ever met. His weak side is 18 year old girls, plus he's a psycho...that only really comes out when touring though, when there's no escape. The other musicians on the latest album "World Of Lies" are Ed and Jay. Their strong points are they are guitar fiends and brilliant performers, and they are achieving great things in their personal lives. Their weak spot is organisation however, getting them to do something that has been planned ahead of time. It's probably fair that I mention that although organisation is my strong point, my weak point is that I'm an asshole and everyone hates me. Live, we'll be rejoined in the UK by previous guitarist Matt Wilcox, strong point is he is the world's greatest metal shred fiend, weak point is beer. He's also dragging along his band's drummer, Dave Gray, who has a million world class talents from writing, to drawing, to drumming. His bad point however, is he is a total cunt.
You are soon ready with your new album "World Of Lies", how do you feel about it?
We're totally happy with it. It's the album we've been wanting to make all along, it has a perfect balance between the electronics and speedcore influences of the first album and the death metal savagery of "Dissimulate", plus it brings our strongest songs as well. Songs like 'Y' and 'As The World Waits' are taking our game to a whole new level. It's getting very mixed reviews, some people love it and some don't get it, or were expecting another "Dissimulate". I feel that we're doing what Carcass did, evolving with each album so that you get something fresh and new each time. I'd hate to be predictable, and if we're polarising everyone's opinions of us with this album then mission accomplished.
Is there anything profound behind the album title, what are your thoughts behind it?
I guess that it is a viewpoint of the world through the prism of one flawed individual.
Which lyrical themes have you touched on "World Of Lies" and who writes the lyrics in the band?
Luke wrote all the lyrics for "World Of Lies". He had a bone to pick with someone. I guess the lyrical themes touch on anger, betrayal, hatred, misogyny, misanthropy, frustration, disbelief. Did I mention Dave Gray is a cunt?
Where is the inspiration for the lyrics found?
Through the never ceasing wonder that is life and all the individuals it brings to us. Fuckers, all of them.
Do you have a message/meaning with the lyrics, or are they just present to accompany the music?
There's no message to our lyrics or music. We are as shithouse as everyone else, we have no place in sending messages to whoever's listening. The lyrics are there to express ourselves.
How important are the lyrics for the universe of The Berzerker compared to the music?
As important as how you take them. Everything we do in this band we take seriously, both lyrics and music. This may sound as if it contradicts our previous answer, but it doesn't.
How did a bunch of Australians come up with the band name The Berzerker, a tribute to us mad-Norsemen or?
Because we all want to be Norwegian, just like Red Harvest. Seriously, the name Berzerker was chosen because it describes the music and the live show perfectly.
The new album has been in the hand of the press for a little while now, how has the reactions to it been?
The reactions have been very mixed. Some people have gone at it with an open mind and have enjoyed it, it's not a very instant album and it's not as packed with novelty as I guess the previous albums were... you have to take it on the strength of the songs. Others have hated it. They fall into two camps - some people had expectations of where we were headed when they heard "Dissimulate" and we didn't give them what they expected, so they didn't enjoy it. Other people – like a very well known metal magazine that actually gave us our first UK tour - went out of their way to slag it off. As I said previously, I'm happy for us to polarise opinion. I want people to either hate us or love us, just as long as they're not lukewarm about what we do.
What do you expect from the new album, and what do you want to accomplish with your music in general?
Quite frankly, we're happy to release albums, it's a process we enjoy. As for what we want to accomplish we want to be one of the bands that pushes extremity in metal, we want to do something that stands out and will always stand out. We don't want to be another one of these bands that copies Slayer or Morbid Angel, and is forgotten about within a few years.
Who's writing the music in the band?
Why, the band of course. To break it down, the guitarists and bassists come up with riffs that are recorded. Luke rearranges them, writes beats, and jigsaws them into songs. The vocals, drums and samples come next. That's basically how it all happens.
Where is the ideas and the inspiration usually found?
Through the never ceasing wonder that is life and all the individuals it brings to us. Yes, those bastards.
Can you pinpoint any certain events or happenings that have influenced any of the music on "World Of Lies"?
Well, the lyrics have a specific focal point but we won't be revealing that. I guess that particular event may have influenced the general mood of the album.
What's up with the last track 'Farewell', not exactly what we expected as an album closer, after the mayhem that paints the album, how did you get the idea for 'Farewell' and what are your thoughts behind it?
Yes, it's a different kind of song. I find that most death metal requires your absolute attention, but this song works well in the background, it brings a mood. When laying down the riffs for the album Jay came up with this riff and Luke jammed some synth with it, and when we heard it we thought is was great but couldn't think of how to make it work within a song. Luke had to think past the usual verse/chorus/vocals structure to arrange that song as the riff demanded. We will always do some very different songs on our albums. People might forget that our first album had tracks like 'Chronological Order Of Putrefaction', 'Humanity', and 'Ode To Nash' on there. I don't think people realise that for us, such a "normal" album as "Dissimulate" was the odd one out.
Where do you find the spoken-intro-samples, when do you know you have found the right one and what do you think it adds to your music?
We have a bit of a library of samples. They come from medical videos, documentaries, mondo films, everywhere really. Basically we know that a sample will work when hearing it because whatever is said kind of... resonates with us.
The same question as above can be asked about the samples and noise you use within the music, what do you think that adds to the overall atmosphere?
It adds noise, craziness and violence to the songs. Too many bands are trying to make metal - a music form known for distortion and noisiness - clean and prettily produced. For us it's not enough to distort the kickdrums, have layered screeching, brutal detuned guitars, we need to have the samples of noise and explosions... we need more noise, more distortion.
If you should pick a track from each of your albums that represent the arch-type The Berzerker song, which tracks would you choose?
Self-titled: 'Burnt', as it is the perfect mix of noise, speedcore, death metal and grind. "Dissimulate": 'No-One Wins'. It is lightning fast and intense as hell, which is pretty much what we were aiming for with most of the songs on that album. "World Of Lies": 'Y'. It is the perfect The Berzerker song - samples, speed, strong riffs and it gives the listener both atmospheric, anthemic choruses, and a fistful of intense moments. Not a moment wasted in this song it's nonstop brutal metal joy all the way through.
How do you feel the band has developed, if we compare, the new full length to the 2 first albums?
The production has evolved to suit the sounds that we prefer to use, and the songwriting has developed much much more. Our bag of tricks has grown heaps – "Dissimulate" was great, but at the end of the day it was brutal death metal and shred riffs through and through. On "World Of Lies", we have that and much, much more. We have the stadium-grind groove of 'As The World Waits', the anthemic 'Y', 'Follow Me' and 'Farewell' bringing melancholy to extreme metal, the cyber-carcass track 'Black Heart', a return to our debut album's speedcore feel with 'Never Hated More'... there's so much different stuff on there.
What would you like to express with your music, and how often do you think you succeed in it?
We want to make songs that we get off listening to, nothing more. We want to rock ourselves super fucking hard with the most violent music ever made with the most hateful lyrics. I know we succeed in doing that; it's whether anyone else enjoys listening to it that's the question.
What do you want to tell us with the cover artwork, what are your thoughts behind it and how is it connected to the album title?
The artwork isn't directly connected with the album title, it more conveys the mood of the music of the band. The cover artwork is done by Ivan Kenny-Sumiga who did the covers for the other albums. The symbol of the band is the Iron Dragon and that appears on the cover in its latest incarnation. It's angrier, more organic...it describes the direction of the music.
Is it only a coincidence that one of the first things I thought of when seeing the artwork, was the bio-mech that has been a part of Rage's cover-artwork for a long time?
Yes, only a coincidence. We've always used this design - the dragon specifically - for all our albums. We like the combination of monster and mechanics. It describes our music and how it collide death metal with industrial music and extreme electronics.
The Berzerker was once known as the world's fastest band, the one with the masks, why did you choose to drop the masks?
The masks become unwearable through use, and we'd already showed our faces on the "Principles And Practices Of Berzerker" DVD. We were faced with replacing them or going with our faces, and we decided on our faces. We used the masks for specific purposes such as depersonalising the band and making the live shows as intense as possible, but due to unforeseen circumstances using the masks started having connotations that we did not intend and we generally didn't achieve with the masks what we set out to do. At the end of the day there were more reasons to not use them than keep using them. As for the "worlds fastest band title", I'm happy for us to claim that one until I see someone cover 'No-One Wins'. It is something we wanted to move away from though, after "Dissimulate" was released every band in metal was claiming that title, every magazine was calling every band's release the fastest ever with no sense of comparison, and metal just went crazy for a while with everyone having arguments over bpm's in songs and what actually constituted an agreed blast beat. Fuck that - it's about songs, and who brings the best songs not the biggest bpm. And I reckon we fuck shit up for both categories.
How do you look upon the future of The Berzerker?
I have no idea what the future holds for us. We used to be on a mission to conquer the world with The Berzerker but our disillusionment with everything, ourselves included, has precluded us from pursuing anything other than our own comfort and pleasure first and foremost.
Will you share your 5 all time favourite albums with the readers of Nocturnal Horde?
Carcass - Necroticism
Morbid Angel - Blessed Are the Sick
Brutal Truth - Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses
Pig Destroyer - Prowler In The Yard
Strapping Young Lad - City
Thanks for answering my questions, if you have anything to add, feel free to add it now!
Nothing to add except that “World Of Lies” is going to fucking crush you and if it doesn't, it's because you're too busy cracking boners over Dream Theater or some other load of musician wank.
Seeing as though I'm in the UK right now, the Australian summer is treating me totally unkindly. It's fucking freezing here and all I hear on the news is how there's a heatwave back home.
Will you please start off by introducing yourself and tell us why you play your metal in The Berzerker?
My name is Sam, I play bass and do some of the vocals for the band, and I play in The Berzerker because I'm one lucky son of a bitch. I joined the band just when Luke came back from the UK with the offer of a contract with Earache and have been around ever since. I couldn't play with another band now, too much has been achieved with The Berzerker for me to go back to the start again.
A small introduction of the rest of the band, together with a bit about their strong and weak sides as well, will be greatly appreciated!
Well, there's the Berzerker himself aka Luke Kenny. His strong side is he's totally fearless and driven like no-one I've ever met. His weak side is 18 year old girls, plus he's a psycho...that only really comes out when touring though, when there's no escape. The other musicians on the latest album "World Of Lies" are Ed and Jay. Their strong points are they are guitar fiends and brilliant performers, and they are achieving great things in their personal lives. Their weak spot is organisation however, getting them to do something that has been planned ahead of time. It's probably fair that I mention that although organisation is my strong point, my weak point is that I'm an asshole and everyone hates me. Live, we'll be rejoined in the UK by previous guitarist Matt Wilcox, strong point is he is the world's greatest metal shred fiend, weak point is beer. He's also dragging along his band's drummer, Dave Gray, who has a million world class talents from writing, to drawing, to drumming. His bad point however, is he is a total cunt.
You are soon ready with your new album "World Of Lies", how do you feel about it?
We're totally happy with it. It's the album we've been wanting to make all along, it has a perfect balance between the electronics and speedcore influences of the first album and the death metal savagery of "Dissimulate", plus it brings our strongest songs as well. Songs like 'Y' and 'As The World Waits' are taking our game to a whole new level. It's getting very mixed reviews, some people love it and some don't get it, or were expecting another "Dissimulate". I feel that we're doing what Carcass did, evolving with each album so that you get something fresh and new each time. I'd hate to be predictable, and if we're polarising everyone's opinions of us with this album then mission accomplished.
Is there anything profound behind the album title, what are your thoughts behind it?
I guess that it is a viewpoint of the world through the prism of one flawed individual.
Which lyrical themes have you touched on "World Of Lies" and who writes the lyrics in the band?
Luke wrote all the lyrics for "World Of Lies". He had a bone to pick with someone. I guess the lyrical themes touch on anger, betrayal, hatred, misogyny, misanthropy, frustration, disbelief. Did I mention Dave Gray is a cunt?
Where is the inspiration for the lyrics found?
Through the never ceasing wonder that is life and all the individuals it brings to us. Fuckers, all of them.
Do you have a message/meaning with the lyrics, or are they just present to accompany the music?
There's no message to our lyrics or music. We are as shithouse as everyone else, we have no place in sending messages to whoever's listening. The lyrics are there to express ourselves.
How important are the lyrics for the universe of The Berzerker compared to the music?
As important as how you take them. Everything we do in this band we take seriously, both lyrics and music. This may sound as if it contradicts our previous answer, but it doesn't.
How did a bunch of Australians come up with the band name The Berzerker, a tribute to us mad-Norsemen or?
Because we all want to be Norwegian, just like Red Harvest. Seriously, the name Berzerker was chosen because it describes the music and the live show perfectly.
The new album has been in the hand of the press for a little while now, how has the reactions to it been?
The reactions have been very mixed. Some people have gone at it with an open mind and have enjoyed it, it's not a very instant album and it's not as packed with novelty as I guess the previous albums were... you have to take it on the strength of the songs. Others have hated it. They fall into two camps - some people had expectations of where we were headed when they heard "Dissimulate" and we didn't give them what they expected, so they didn't enjoy it. Other people – like a very well known metal magazine that actually gave us our first UK tour - went out of their way to slag it off. As I said previously, I'm happy for us to polarise opinion. I want people to either hate us or love us, just as long as they're not lukewarm about what we do.
What do you expect from the new album, and what do you want to accomplish with your music in general?
Quite frankly, we're happy to release albums, it's a process we enjoy. As for what we want to accomplish we want to be one of the bands that pushes extremity in metal, we want to do something that stands out and will always stand out. We don't want to be another one of these bands that copies Slayer or Morbid Angel, and is forgotten about within a few years.
Who's writing the music in the band?
Why, the band of course. To break it down, the guitarists and bassists come up with riffs that are recorded. Luke rearranges them, writes beats, and jigsaws them into songs. The vocals, drums and samples come next. That's basically how it all happens.
Where is the ideas and the inspiration usually found?
Through the never ceasing wonder that is life and all the individuals it brings to us. Yes, those bastards.
Can you pinpoint any certain events or happenings that have influenced any of the music on "World Of Lies"?
Well, the lyrics have a specific focal point but we won't be revealing that. I guess that particular event may have influenced the general mood of the album.
What's up with the last track 'Farewell', not exactly what we expected as an album closer, after the mayhem that paints the album, how did you get the idea for 'Farewell' and what are your thoughts behind it?
Yes, it's a different kind of song. I find that most death metal requires your absolute attention, but this song works well in the background, it brings a mood. When laying down the riffs for the album Jay came up with this riff and Luke jammed some synth with it, and when we heard it we thought is was great but couldn't think of how to make it work within a song. Luke had to think past the usual verse/chorus/vocals structure to arrange that song as the riff demanded. We will always do some very different songs on our albums. People might forget that our first album had tracks like 'Chronological Order Of Putrefaction', 'Humanity', and 'Ode To Nash' on there. I don't think people realise that for us, such a "normal" album as "Dissimulate" was the odd one out.
Where do you find the spoken-intro-samples, when do you know you have found the right one and what do you think it adds to your music?
We have a bit of a library of samples. They come from medical videos, documentaries, mondo films, everywhere really. Basically we know that a sample will work when hearing it because whatever is said kind of... resonates with us.
The same question as above can be asked about the samples and noise you use within the music, what do you think that adds to the overall atmosphere?
It adds noise, craziness and violence to the songs. Too many bands are trying to make metal - a music form known for distortion and noisiness - clean and prettily produced. For us it's not enough to distort the kickdrums, have layered screeching, brutal detuned guitars, we need to have the samples of noise and explosions... we need more noise, more distortion.
If you should pick a track from each of your albums that represent the arch-type The Berzerker song, which tracks would you choose?
Self-titled: 'Burnt', as it is the perfect mix of noise, speedcore, death metal and grind. "Dissimulate": 'No-One Wins'. It is lightning fast and intense as hell, which is pretty much what we were aiming for with most of the songs on that album. "World Of Lies": 'Y'. It is the perfect The Berzerker song - samples, speed, strong riffs and it gives the listener both atmospheric, anthemic choruses, and a fistful of intense moments. Not a moment wasted in this song it's nonstop brutal metal joy all the way through.
How do you feel the band has developed, if we compare, the new full length to the 2 first albums?
The production has evolved to suit the sounds that we prefer to use, and the songwriting has developed much much more. Our bag of tricks has grown heaps – "Dissimulate" was great, but at the end of the day it was brutal death metal and shred riffs through and through. On "World Of Lies", we have that and much, much more. We have the stadium-grind groove of 'As The World Waits', the anthemic 'Y', 'Follow Me' and 'Farewell' bringing melancholy to extreme metal, the cyber-carcass track 'Black Heart', a return to our debut album's speedcore feel with 'Never Hated More'... there's so much different stuff on there.
What would you like to express with your music, and how often do you think you succeed in it?
We want to make songs that we get off listening to, nothing more. We want to rock ourselves super fucking hard with the most violent music ever made with the most hateful lyrics. I know we succeed in doing that; it's whether anyone else enjoys listening to it that's the question.
What do you want to tell us with the cover artwork, what are your thoughts behind it and how is it connected to the album title?
The artwork isn't directly connected with the album title, it more conveys the mood of the music of the band. The cover artwork is done by Ivan Kenny-Sumiga who did the covers for the other albums. The symbol of the band is the Iron Dragon and that appears on the cover in its latest incarnation. It's angrier, more organic...it describes the direction of the music.
Is it only a coincidence that one of the first things I thought of when seeing the artwork, was the bio-mech that has been a part of Rage's cover-artwork for a long time?
Yes, only a coincidence. We've always used this design - the dragon specifically - for all our albums. We like the combination of monster and mechanics. It describes our music and how it collide death metal with industrial music and extreme electronics.
The Berzerker was once known as the world's fastest band, the one with the masks, why did you choose to drop the masks?
The masks become unwearable through use, and we'd already showed our faces on the "Principles And Practices Of Berzerker" DVD. We were faced with replacing them or going with our faces, and we decided on our faces. We used the masks for specific purposes such as depersonalising the band and making the live shows as intense as possible, but due to unforeseen circumstances using the masks started having connotations that we did not intend and we generally didn't achieve with the masks what we set out to do. At the end of the day there were more reasons to not use them than keep using them. As for the "worlds fastest band title", I'm happy for us to claim that one until I see someone cover 'No-One Wins'. It is something we wanted to move away from though, after "Dissimulate" was released every band in metal was claiming that title, every magazine was calling every band's release the fastest ever with no sense of comparison, and metal just went crazy for a while with everyone having arguments over bpm's in songs and what actually constituted an agreed blast beat. Fuck that - it's about songs, and who brings the best songs not the biggest bpm. And I reckon we fuck shit up for both categories.
How do you look upon the future of The Berzerker?
I have no idea what the future holds for us. We used to be on a mission to conquer the world with The Berzerker but our disillusionment with everything, ourselves included, has precluded us from pursuing anything other than our own comfort and pleasure first and foremost.
Will you share your 5 all time favourite albums with the readers of Nocturnal Horde?
Carcass - Necroticism
Morbid Angel - Blessed Are the Sick
Brutal Truth - Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses
Pig Destroyer - Prowler In The Yard
Strapping Young Lad - City
Thanks for answering my questions, if you have anything to add, feel free to add it now!
Nothing to add except that “World Of Lies” is going to fucking crush you and if it doesn't, it's because you're too busy cracking boners over Dream Theater or some other load of musician wank.
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