Interview with doom death metal band from Denmark - FOETOREM.
Answered Daniel (vocals, guitars) and Claus (vocals, guitars), thank you!
Recenze/review - FOETOREM - Incongruous Forms of Evergrowing Rot (2026):
Ave FOETOREM! Greetings to the Danish underground. I hope everything’s going well over there. It should be you’ve just released the first fantastic full-length album of your career this year. I have to admit, it literally pinned me to the wall. It’s dark, energetic, and cuts like a sharp knife. It’s very clear that you’ve done a great job and brought a lot of talent to the table. How do you view the new album in relation to your demo? Where did you want to go, and how do you think the recordings differ?
Claus: Thank you for the kind words about our debut album! When we first started recording “Demo 25,” we already had about 90% of the music written for the album. However, we wanted to get our music out to people quickly, and it really paid off, as Everlasting Spew contacted us about two weeks after we released the Demo 25 online.
For the recording of the album, we got some better equipment, and we all stepped up our performances, taking more time to make the record sound better. The guitars on the demo are double-tracked, while on the album they are quad-tracked. We just put a lot more time into the whole creation.
Daniel: I think for me the two releases differ mostly in preparation. They have their different soundscapes and feel, where the demo acted as a bit of a testing ground for what we wanted Foetorem to sound like. We had only really been a complete band for half a year at that point.
When we got around to the album we all knew what we wanted and were fully aligned on the concept and able to perform at our best. I think one thing that really makes a difference for me are all the finer details in the songs enhanced by the excellently composed drumparts by Geistaz.
“Incongruous Forms of Evergrowing Rot” contains all the attributes of good death and doom metal. For me personally, it’s an album I love coming back to. How did it come about? How does FOETOREM compose new material?
Claus: The songs began to take shape about late 2021, but some of the riffs were already written in some form about 10 years ago. So when I hooked up with Daniel & Ric, we all started to work on lyrics and arrangement ideas. Now, with the album out, we are still composing new music, with both Daniel & Ric contributing to the music this time.
Daniel: As Claus is the main composer we do our best to feed him ideas and concepts he can build on. We are slowly getting back into composing, building on all the elements we like and adding a bit of growth and fine tuning of concepts.
I looked it up and saw that Dan Lowndes is credited with the mastering. I have to confirm that the sound is absolutely killer. It keeps making me turn up the volume on my stereo. Dan Lowndes created a sound for you that is brutal, raw, yet dark and primal. What was it like working with him, and why him specifically? Which studio did you record in, and how did everything go?
Daniel: So, working backwards in your question, we recorded the album ourselves. As with many bands we were on a tight budget for this first album so it was decided that I would do the engineering on the drums, bass and my own guitar as I had sound engineering experience, while Claus recorded his parts himself. We tracked the drums in our rehearsal room where we did some sound treatment and rearranging of the space for those days. Everything else was either tracked at my place or at Claus’s.
Mixing was primarily done by me working closely with Claus on what sound we wanted for each element on the album. Claus was the primary driver on creating the guitar tone that gives the album that raw but balanced feel where my focus was on getting the drums, bass and vocals sitting right in the mix. All of this was of course through several iterations but I think we got there in the end.
Everything was then sent off to Dan who did his mastering magic to the final mix. We were so pleased with what he did on the demo that it was a no-brainer to go with him for the album and he totally did it justice, not overly changing the sound of the mix but doing that necessary touch up and control needed to sound optimal on each medium.
All in all, we are quite satisfied with the result but we do have bigger plans for the next album. As much fun as it is recording and mixing your own music, we aim to upgrade to a studio for some of the recording next time and let an external engineer mix the album. This way we can focus more on the songwriting and production side as well as playing concerts.
An integral part and a sort of bonus for fans today is the CD. You released it on Everlasting Spew Records, and it features a corpse-themed cover. Who designed it? How did you choose the motif, and how does it relate to the music on the new album?
We worked closely with N. Zui from Belial NecroArts on the cover art. He was able to take our notes and ideas on what would fit with the lyrical themes of the album and turn it into what you see. There is no direct tie to any specific thing on the album but it expresses the same feeling of death and decay we do enjoy lyrically.
I’ve been wandering the underworld for over thirty years now, and when it comes to music, Denmark is a sure bet for me. I think we have a similar nature and taste when it comes to metal. I really like your bands and follow your scene closely. Maybe I even envy you a little we only have a few death metal bands here that are worth checking out. How do you explain that death metal is doing so well in your country? How do you perceive your scene, fans, and labels?
Claus:
In Denmark, I think death metal is doing better than ever. We have a lot of killer bands that are especially successful internationally. A couple of death metal bands formed in the late ’80s are still active, and musicians from that era have gone on to play in numerous projects. Because of that, I think Denmark has a strong pool of experienced musicians who still know how to create crushing death metal.
You play old-school-influenced doom death metal. These days, a band can’t really avoid comparisons, but I’d be interested to know how the idea to form FOETOREM actually came about, who your role models were and are, and where do you want to take your band? Are you tempted by big international festivals, for example? Would you be willing to go on tour with a more famous band?
Claus: I was in another band before , and we split up in 2022.
So in late 2023 I wanted to play in another band once more with a different style , so I contacted our bass player Ric, and showed him some of the songs I’ve been working on. We then hooked up with Daniel, and he was playing drums at first but he switched over to play 2nd guitar & vocals, to make way for Geistaz to play the drums, so we just took it from there.
I really like Morbid Angel, Carcass, Bolt Thrower, old Hypocrisy, and our fellow countrymen Iniquity, just to mention a few.
I don’t know if I have role models any more? But in my teens I was really into Trey Azagthoth, Jeff Loomis for the guitars, and Bill Steer, Brian Petrowsky, Mads Haarløv for vocals…
Daniel: As far as concerts we are working closely with our booker in setting up concerts for the rest of 2026 and 2027. Realistically we aim to play more outside Denmark from 2027 and if any relevant festival should offer us a slot i think that’s a great opportunity to share our music and there might just be a new fan amongst the horde of metal lovers.
When I started my website ten years ago, my vision was to try to support bands that I felt weren’t getting much attention. To let the world know about them. I think I’m doing pretty well at it, at least judging by the feedback. How do you approach promotion? Do you leave it to the label, or do you send CDs out for reviews yourselves? For example, I buy albums that I really enjoy. How about you? Are you also fans who like to support your peers? Do you go to concerts? Do you party?
Daniel: We do have great support in our label who actively work hard in promoting our music and band overall. We try our best to engage with anyone reaching out or sharing our music and for a band that is hugely dependent on an international audience we utilise social media a great deal. I personally like to go to as many metal concerts as I can, prioritizing the band I like of course, and buy merch and music.
Claus: I buy physical copies of bands that I like on vinyl, and if it’s not on vinyl I try to support them by buying digital copies on Bandcamp.
For concerts I try to go out and support as much as I can.
On the one hand, a band starting out today has plenty of ways to get their name out there, but on the other hand, there are a huge number of bands, and fans get lost in the crowd. A lot of people just download MP3s from the internet and, instead of going to a concert, prefer to spew venom on Facebook. How does modern technology influence you as FOETOREM? What do you think about downloading music, Google Metalists, streaming music, etc.?
Claus: I stream music on my day job, to kill some time. I never really “Download music” because I want to support the scene. But on the other hand, I think streaming is a good way to discover new bands, and if I like what I hear, I’ll try to get their music on vinyl.
I like to ask musicians what death metal means to them. How would they define it is it more of a philosophy and lifestyle for them, or “just” a way to relax? What does it mean to you? How do you perceive and experience it?
Claus: I started listening to metal in the early 90’s.
And this music/genre is everything to me! It has given me so much. It is what I am! For me it’s a community.
I have heard from different people saying to me “you will know better when you get older” . I am now in my mid 40’s, and still as passionate about metal as I was when I first started listening to it!.
Finally, a classic but important question. What does FOETOREM have planned for the coming months? Where can we see you in concert, and when will you be touring? If you have a message for fans, labels, or promoters, this is the place for it…
Claus: We have some concerts lined up in our home country, which we are really looking forward to play, and then we’re trying to get as many gigs as possible, and we are writing new material as well.
Thank you very much for the interview. I wish not only the new album great success but also that your fan base grows as much as possible. I look forward to seeing you live somewhere, and I wish you all the best both musically and personally. I’m going to blast “Incongruous Forms of Evergrowing Rot” in my head again!
Recenze/review - FOETOREM - Incongruous Forms of Evergrowing Rot (2026):
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