Interview with brutal death metal band Germany - RESURRECTED.
Answered Thomas (guitars), thank you!
Recenze/review - RESURRECTED - Perpetual (2026):
Ave RESURRECTED! Before we begin the interview, let me thank you. You know, I’m an old metalhead, and I listen to music not just with my ears but with my heart, and your new album “Perpetual” has literally captivated me. It’s as if I’m looking into the darkness somewhere in a sewer beneath our industrial city. It’s a very dark and cold album. How did it come about? What is RESURRECTED’s recipe for so much emotion, for such dark, raw moods?
I think it’s more that we should be thanking you for giving us the chance to speak here! We appreciate every interview about the new album. I read your review of “Perpetual”, and it really moved me because I felt like I could sense what was going on inside you while you were listening to the record. And that, in turn, moved me even more you wrote it straight from the heart. I’m also very emotional when I listen to music. Not with every song or every album, of course, but I connect a lot of emotions with music that was already the case with my grandfather.
We grew up here surrounded by industry, by dirt, by people shaped by all of that. Naturally, that leaves its mark on us as human beings. When the leaves fall from the trees, everything here really turns into shades of grey. On top of that, Chris and I, as songwriters, both carry our own very personal darkness within us.
To tell you the truth, even though I’m a huge fan of old-school brutal death metal, what I really like about you guys is that you stand out completely. While the foundation of your music is indeed death metal, you can also hear a solid dose of grindcore and classic death metal. At least that’s how I hear it. It seems to me that on “Perpetual” you’ve let the cold and darkness stand out even more. I love the sound of the new album! Who handled the mixing and mastering? Tell them I pay them my respects. Where and how did you record?
I’m glad to read that we stand out to you from the old-school brutal death scene. Back in the ’90s, I was heavily influenced by grindcore bands like Napalm Death, Terrorizer, and Brutal Truth, but alongside them were the “classic” death metal acts like Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, and Entombed. It really didn’t get any more brutal than that back then. Of course, I still carry that baggage with me when it comes to songwriting. These days, though, it’s more bands like Origin or Cattle Decapitation that spark the occasional outburst of rage on a record like on “Into Mighty Death,” for example.
We once again made a very conscious decision to work with Jörg Uken and his Soundlodge Studio. We’ve already collaborated on our previous albums. Jörg is a drummer himself, and the chemistry between him and our drummer Dennis is just right—they understand each other. And Dennis hates those over-polished modern productions that all sound the same because everyone uses the same samples. Jörg simply doesn’t do that, and that’s exactly why we worked with him everything is organic. During the pandemic, I had a lot of time to refine my guitar setup, letting go of many things to achieve exactly the tone you hear on “Perpetual.” If you start heavily tweaking the guitar tone in the mix, you’re basically done for. We just put two mics in front of the cab, saw what would happen (I’d brought five other amps along), and Jörg immediately said: “That’s it we’re not touching a thing!” Jörg Uken actually handled everything from recording to mixing and mastering; I only tracked the guitar DIs at home beforehand because that would’ve taken far too much time otherwise I’m very meticulous about that.
I’m also thrilled with the cover art and graphics. Who painted such a gloomy and dark motif for you? What was the brief for the new album? How does the motif relate to the music and lyrics? What is it really supposed to depict? Are those people marching to the afterlife?
The cover was designed by Ivan Bragin. At the end of 2024, when we were looking around for potential artists, I randomly came across this artwork of his online. Those are the moments when you just know: this is it. So he didn’t have to paint anything new—we simply had to acquire the design from him. And you’re right, they are figures marching into the afterlife.
Most of the songs actually came together after we already had the cover artwork, although I wouldn’t say there’s a strict, overarching concept linking the songs, lyrics, and cover. Everything was meant to create an overall dark atmosphere, and I think we pulled that off quite well. Also the way Janina our drummer Dennis’s wife ultimately handled the illustration and integrated our logo into the cover works perfectly.
I’ve always liked that you don’t neglect the lyrics. I don’t have the original copy with me right now, but I’m already looking forward to “reading” it. Most death metal bands have such ordinary, classic lyrics. What are the ones on “Perpetual” about?
Christoph doesn’t really write long lyrics that just struck me again when I was adding them to the songs on Bandcamp. His lyrics are usually very personal; he processes a lot of his own experiences and turns them into death metal lyrics. Since I know him very well, I understand what they mean to him, but they always leave enough room for interpretation so that anyone can create their own story from them.
As I mentioned earlier, you’re a truly original band. Your guitar style is unmistakable, and your songs are composed with ease and elegance. Am I right? Does writing new material come easily to you? Could you please tell us about the process of creating a new song? How does RESURRECTED create its music?
To be completely honest, I’m a pretty miserable guitarist. I only took guitar lessons back in the day until I had gathered enough theoretical and practical knowledge to write death metal songs. And back then, it all came much more naturally than it does now. We used to rehearse three times a week, jam, and write songs that wayI’d have an idea for a riff, our drummer at the time, Michael, would lay drums underneath it, and at some point a song was done. We never wrote anything down we had it all in our heads. That’s how we managed to release a new album every two years.
These days, I feel like two years pass in the blink of an eye. On top of that, the whole process has completely changed. Unless we’re rehearsing for a live show, we usually only meet up with fully formed song ideas that either Chris or I bring in. Those already include rough drum structures. Dennis often comes up with much better ideas anyway, but he likes to know the general direction beforehand.
For “Perpetual” as the title track, for example, he wasn’t happy at all with the original idea for the drum part in the chorus. He just said, “I have to blast it—there’s no other way.” I was like, “That’s 270 BPM!!!” And Dennis just went, “Doesn’t matter!”
But the next album definitely won’t take as long to arrive as “Perpetual.”
You’re a band that traces its origins back to the 1990s. That’s a long time ago, and a lot has changed since then. I’m talking about new technologies, recording methods, sound capture, but also the approaches to and perception of music itself. We have various streaming services, YouTube, Spotify. How do you, as a musician, perceive all of this?
Back then, we were still recording demo tapes on an 8-track recorder. A regular person couldn’t afford a PC in those days, and we didn’t have the money to book studio time either—300 Deutsche Mark (about €150) per day was way out of reach. The budget for our debut album “Raping Whores” was just €500 (1000 Deutsche Mark), which came out on Eaststar Records at the time. That didn’t exactly allow for much studio time.
But the “digital domain” gradually started to take over. In 1996, I began working with a halfway decent PC and the sequencer Samplitude it actually fit on a 1.44” floppy disk. I’m still using the same sequencer today, although it’s grown to about 1.6 gigabytes by now. One thing I’ve always stuck with, though, is a real guitar amp I never switched to modelers, not even live. I’d rather bring a small lunchbox amp on stage than put a laptop there. At many shows we play nowadays, younger bands are fully digital and don’t even understand why you’d need a guitar cab or a real amp. Some promoters even struggle to put together a backline because local kids just don’t bring that kind of gear anymore.
That said, I do keep up with new technologies and like to adapt when it makes sense—especially when it comes to traveling long distances. But to my ears, digital gear still doesn’t sound good enough. I hear it at so many shows, and it actually puts me in a bad mood when I catch that flat, lifeless Kemper sound coming off the stage.
You mentioned streaming services I don’t use them. End of story. But of course, we maintain all our platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, YouTube, Deezer, and so on. And naturally, our songs are available there if you want any kind of reach as a musician today, you simply can’t avoid it. Unfortunately, musicians are at the very bottom of the food chain. The payouts are already almost negligible, and by the time the revenue reaches the label and we as musicians only get a fifth of that you can imagine how little is left. That said, I’m not blaming the label at all; compared to others, we’re actually in a pretty good position. But that’s just how the business works.
When you came back with a new album this year, I was thrilled. You know how it is—I immediately went down to the basement and spent almost the entire weekend there looking for an old cassette of “Raping Whores.” Not an original, just a regular copy, but back then it meant the world to me. How do you look back on the old days? You were young, you had more time; sometimes I wonder if things weren’t better without the internet and all the new technologies. Although, maybe life is easier and more comfortable now?
That’s crazy you’ve got a cassette copy of “Raping Whores”? Did you copy it from vinyl or CD? I used to tape stuff from vinyl onto cassette all the time, mostly for the car. Nuclear Blast used to have LPs on sale for 1 Deutsche Mark (€0.50). You can’t even afford those records anymore today. Back then, it was way cheaper than buying the CD.
To be honest, I didn’t really have more time back then I was working shifts. But I did have more time for what actually mattered: writing music, spending time with friends, things like that. These days, it takes so much time just dealing with social media as a musician. I don’t want to do it, but there’s no way around it. The internet means reach for us, but on the other hand it also means overload for the listener. You have everything instantly available, no matter where you are on the planet. Your thoughts are constantly jumping you’re not really focused or concentrated for long anymore. I’m not excluding myself from that either.
Was it better back then? That’s a philosophical question. If I had known in the ’90s what would be possible today, wouldn’t I have wanted it immediately?
When I interviewed the band DEATHSWARM with Heval, he wrote a beautiful sentence back then: “Extreme metal generally means freedom and self-confidence to me, both musically and in terms of lifestyle.” I thought about it a lot and realized I feel exactly the same way. For example, I always view a band as a whole. How they come across at concerts, in interviews I have to believe in their music. RESURRECTED really gives the impression that your music comes straight from the heart. No posturing, just “pure art.” Do you think this can be learned? What does music actually mean to you?
There are things you simply can’t learn. You can learn the theory to bring to life what you carry in your heart but that’s exactly the point. Making music, especially death metal, comes from within and means having the freedom to do whatever you want. I always carry that very specific feeling inside me it’s like a constant underlying noise, no matter what I’m doing.
When I was younger, I thought I’d be doing this at most until my mid-thirties. I’ll be turning 52 in June, and I’m still standing here. Do I want to give that up? No. That would mean giving up on myself. The shows hurt a bit more than they used to, sure but I still enjoy every single moment on stage with these guys, who are basically my family.
If you don’t carry it in your heart, the audience will notice. Sooner or later.
You come from the industrial city of Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Has your environment the factories, the smog, the steel influenced your work in any way? I also work in industry, and I can’t shake the feeling that I always sense a certain peculiar darkness in your work, a restlessness that I experience every day early in the morning as I walk to work…
Your surroundings definitely shape you. I grew up right in the middle of that grey bleakness myself on the outskirts of Oberhausen. Our first drummer, Michael, used to work underground in the mines. Our rehearsal space is located in an air-raid bunker from World War II, a massive block with five-meter-thick reinforced concrete walls. Every time you go in there to rehearse, you pass through a very particular kind of darkness. You can almost feel what people must have gone through back then, when the bunker was still used for its original purpose.
You should be glad you can walk to work! I usually have to drive, but when it’s a bit warmer, I sometimes take the bike and run back—that way I’ve already had my workout. When you walk, run or cycle like that, you perceive everything around you very differently—much more intensely. All that industry, the empty faces of people with a sense of hopelessness in their eyes… You can probably imagine that it doesn’t exactly make me want to write cheerful harmonies.
Everyone had to start somewhere. As I mentioned, you formed the band back in 1993. You’re part of the German death metal scene, which has always been very strong. Even today, lots of great bands are still emerging. I’d be interested in your perspective from the inside. How do you perceive your scene, the fans, and the concerts?
We’re still in touch with long-established German bands like Fleshcrawl, Purgatory, Profanity, and Depression they’ve all been around since the early ’90s as well. Back in the day, the contact was more intense, but most of them didn’t have families yet. Still, we’re always happy when we run into each other at festivals or end up playing shows together somewhere.
There’s also a solid underground scene here in the Lower Rhine area, but most of those musicians have been around for a long time too and play in different lineups across various bands. To be honest, I don’t have much contact with the newer bands in Germany. That usually only happens when they reach out to book us for a show—they tend to know us because they’ve stumbled across us on Spotify or YouTube. At some point, I think there was a kind of disconnect where we “lost” the newer bands. Maybe we’re just getting too old, or maybe it’s because the last album took so long—I really can’t say.
When I go to a show around here, it feels like there are two separate worlds: either I know pretty much everyone, or I don’t know a single person. It’s pretty strange.
Let’s stay with the history for a moment. How did you actually get the band together? Please reminisce for us…
That wasn’t all on me back then I had more of a supporting role, haha. I used to hang out quite a bit in EVOCATION’s rehearsal space, which basically laid the foundation for what later became RESURRECTED. The name RESURRECTED is actually a nod to the “resurrected” EVOCATION the lineup was identical, except for me on rhythm guitar.
We eventually had to leave that rehearsal space, though. The lead guitarist who’d been kicked out was the one who had rented it for EVOCATION in the first place, and of course he didn’t want us staying there if he wasn’t part of the band anymore. We got thrown out of the next rehearsal space too it was in a school, and we got caught drinking beer there, which wasn’t exactly allowed, haha. At that point, we still didn’t even have a name. After a few rather inactive months, we pulled ourselves together again and moved into the rehearsal space we’re still using today that was in July 1994. And we played our first ever show in November 1994. A club where we return to in May 29th this year. Maybe I’m going to make some video of the history and all what happened in between.
That first lineup stayed intact until a show with Fleshcrawl in 1997, when our singer Carsten fell out with our lead guitarist Dirk. First the fists flew, then it was Dirk flying out of the band. And up until 2024, I had to carry the whole thing on guitar pretty much on my own.
And what about you personally? When did you first pick up an instrument, when did you attend your first concert, and how did you enjoy it? And what about your first performance on stage? Do you still remember your first tour? Personally, I experienced the nineties; I was young, and I only got into death metal gradually, through German thrash metal… How was it for you?
I first picked up a guitar at 18 that was in 1992. I was still in school and had a small job in the afternoons, which allowed me to afford my first guitar and guitar lessons. My first metal concert was actually DEICIDE on their “Legion” tour in 1993. Back then, they had serious trouble with animal rights activists over here they were all standing in front of the Live Music Hall in Cologne with their signs, trying to stop fans from going into the show. I remember it like it was yesterday.
I was never really into that “Teutonic Thrash” for me, it was a pretty quick jump from Metallica’s “…And Justice for All” to “Subconscious Terror” by BENEDICTION and “Altars of Madness” by MORBID ANGEL. In 1994, I played my first show still with short hair, a BC Rich Warlock that cost me €200, and tall biker boots. Of course, we were all incredibly nervous. I still get nervous today not nearly as much as back then, but I don’t think it ever fully goes away.
Our first tour was in 1997 with FLESHLESS and BONEHOUSE ten shows across Europe, no tour bus of course, just a rented van and sometimes pretty questionable venues. Back then, it somehow felt easy to book ten shows in a row as a band. These days, it’s become a lot more complicated.
The classic closing question. What does RESURRECTED have planned for the coming months? Do you want to say anything to the fans, promoters, or labels?
We’d obviously love to play more live shows, especially after the release of “Perpetual”—but the festival season is already pretty much fully booked by the promoters. Maybe something will still come up and we can jump in somewhere. Otherwise, we’ve only got festival requests lined up for 2027 so far, but at least we’re confirmed for Protzen Open Air on June 20th, 2026.
Our label Testimony Records is also looking to put together a label tour, and we’d definitely be up for that if it works out. In December, the “20th Year Edition” of our album “Endless Sea of Loss” will be reissued through them with the “Bloodline” EP included as bonus tracks.
If not too many additional shows come in during the second half of the year, I’d actually like to start working on new material for the next album right away. Chris and I still have a few ideas in the vault that didn’t make it onto “Perpetual” mainly because we ran out of time to fully finish those songs.
You have no idea what this interview means to me. I really appreciate it. RESURRECTED are frequent guests on my playlist. Thank you for your answers, and especially for your music. May you thrive both as musicians and in your personal lives! RESURRECTED rules!
It’s always moving for me to read that our music can trigger something emotional in others—just like it did with you. Like I said, I could feel that in your review; you’re writing straight from the heart. That really motivates us to keep going the way we are.
Thanks for giving us the opportunity to chat a bit about the past and present I hope it wasn’t too boring. Hopefully, we’ll see each other soon on one of the stages out there!
Recenze/review - RESURRECTED - Perpetual (2026):
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