Interview with death metal band from Norway - VOMITIZER.
Answered Øyvind Rekdal (guitars), thank you!
Recenze/review - VOMITIZER - Release the Rats (2025):
Ave VOMITIZER! Hello to the Norwegian underworld! I'm listening to your new release "Release the Rats" right now and I'm thinking that this is what the music they will play at the end of the world will sound like. I think you've done a really masterful job. What are your feelings about the new album? Have you gotten any feedback from fans yet? Have you played the new songs live yet? And how do they work?
Thank you and a big hello from the Norwegian underworld to you. Your description of Release the Rats as a soundtrack to the end of the world is music to my ears. I guess we could say, mission accomplished.
We are really satisfied with the album, and I think we got it right where we wanted it. It`s been almost 10 months since we finished the album, and I still think it holds up the way I did back then, and that’s a good sign. Of course, being satisfied by the music you’ve made yourself is one thing, but it is exciting to get it out there and hear what other people are thinking about your music. So far it has been overwhelmingly good feedback, so I guess the work now is just to get more people to discover Vomitizer.
Vomitizer has not played live yet, and our first gig will be this autumn at Legend Metalfest in Trondheim, which also features bands like Gaahl’s Wyrd, Blood Red Throne and Lik, so we’re really looking forward to that. I think Vomitizer makes music that will work really well in a live setting.
How do you actually create new songs for VOMITIZER? Are you a traditional band that locks yourself in a rehearsal room and composes there or do you use the internet, so popular nowadays, and email ideas to each other? I'm interested in the creative process itself.
For this album I made all the riffs, arrangement and lyrics myself before getting the other guys involved. So yeah, I basically sent all the songs to our drummer, and he was given total freedom on how he wanted to record the drums. We did the same thing with vocals and bass after that. I knew all the guys from other musical projects, and I knew I would get some quality work back from them. Of course, there has been a lot of communication back and forth, and I’ve been clear about what I’ve envisioned Vomitizer to be, so we all had the basic understanding of what this was going be in the end. We are doing some changes for the future, and I don’t know if this is going to be the process for future releases, but this is how Release the Rats was made.
Lyrics are a separate chapter in VOMITIZER. What are they about on the new album and where did you get the inspiration for them? On "Release the Rats" they fit the music perfectly. What came first, the music or the lyrics?
I was certain from the start that I didn‘t want Vomitizer to be just another band trying to get as much guts as possible into the cover and lyrics, and that being the only purpose. Of course I listen to a lot of bands with this strategy, so nothing wrong with that. But I really wanted Vomitizer to be a death metal band keeping that old school feeling, but at the same time bringing something new to the table, both musically and into the lyrics.
The album is based around a story of a fanatic religious cult sending pest infested rats into the world, with a mission of killing everyone that’s not a part of the chosen ones. So, you start the album getting introduced to the philosophy of this cult, sending out the rats, the disease working its way through society, and how in the end you only have the most raw and wicked people as survivors. All lyrics are made so they can stand by themselves, so you don’t need to read them as a part of this story, but the story is there if you want to see the lyrics in this context.
But it’s hard to say what came first of the story and the music. They were all part of the same process and was made back and forth while making the album.
I have to admit that the cover for „Release the Rats“ is excellent – it fits the music perfectly! It literally gives me a fright and reminds me of the old demos. How did you choose the cover and why did you choose this particular motif? Who is the author of the cover? Did the author maybe hear new songs beforehand for inspiration?
I really like your description of the album cover, and it pretty much sums up my thoughts about the cover art, too. We had another cover made for the album, that was made to fit the story line. But we decided we wanted another cover for the single Pestilence (The Sickness), that was released before the album came out. The lyric of this song is a description of how the disease in the story infects a person, and the album art really works perfectly with the lyrics. This was a picture Peterror had bought earlier because he liked it, but it was not thought for Vomitizer at the time. But after the single was released, we found that the cover fit the whole feeling of the album really well, so we went for it for the whole album too. We think the cover is a perfect match with Vomitizer and the lyrics, but it was made separately, so it just happened to work out. The artist of the cover wanted to be credited as “endlessvile”, and you can find more of his art on Instagram under that name.
The sound of the whole record is great. It‘s dark, cold and sharp at the same time. What studio did you record the album in? Did you as a band have a say in the final sound, the mastering?
Some of the album was recorded at our rehearsal space, some was recorded at home, and some was recorded at Stavmix Studio. When I was going to send this for mixing and mastering, I really wanted to use Rune Stavnesli and his studio Stavmix Studio. I worked with him on the first Chton album, and I just knew that he would understand the sound we were going for. He really gets this sort of music and is a master with this sort of sound. We’ve gotten a lot of great feedback on the sound of Release the Rats, and I will give a lot of credit to him for this. Of course we had a saying all through the process, and he is good at taking our feedback into the mix. Rune still has been the main man creating this sound.
The new album was released on Undercover Records in Germany. Why did you choose this label and how satisfied are you with their work? Fans can buy the new album on vinyl, on CD and digitally. But what about the cassette? This format has been gaining popularity again in the Czech Republic in recent years.
We were lucky enough to have a few different labels to choose from, but Undercover was the only label that wanted to do vinyl at the time, and that was a big thing for us. Of course, Undercover Records is an underground label, which also was the thing with the other labels that we got an offer from, but we’ve been really satisfied by the work they’ve done. They have always been honest about what they can do for us and done exactly that. They kept their word all the way, and I think we have really good communication with them, so all good on that part. Cassette has never been discussed, but you never know what the future will bring. No plans for cassette at the time though.
The history of the band dates back to 2023. How did the idea of founding VOMITIZER come about? Who was your role model? Please reminisce for us!
I have wanted to this sort of band for a while. Like and old school death metal band that just goes as dirty and filthy as it gets, but at the same time have a bit of rock’n roll and punk attitude in the mix. When I started recording the ideas for this album, I already had a clear mindset of where I wanted to go. To mention a few bands that have been inspiring Vomitizer; Abscess, Autopsy, Necrophagia, Death and Obituary. I think you will hear elements from all these bands in Vomitizer, but of course it has been important for us to add our own thing into the mix. So even though Vomitizer has its base in the old school metal, we have something that stands out and makes us Vomitizer, and not just another copy of what’s been done before.
It‘s very obvious in your band how much you enjoy your music. Do you have a goal you would like to achieve? For some people it‘s a famous label, others want to play a big festival.
We very much enjoy our own music, and that is always my main goal when making music. I want to make music I enjoy myself. Release the Rats is exactly the sort of album I would have bought myself. I really get a kick of making riffs when they turn out the way I want and working with songs to get the result I’m going for. When I get feedback out there that other people like my music too, I of course take that as a mighty bonus. It means we share the same taste in music. But we don’t have a mighty end goal for Vomitizer. We just want the band to grow as big as it gets and get the music out there to as many people as possible. I want everyone that like the music Vomitizer do to discover the band.
Each of the members of VOMITIZER is also in other bands. You are experienced musicians and I would like to know who is the main person in your band? Who tells you how the song will sound and look like?
The way Vomitizer has started, it’s been pretty much me setting the direction for the band, but of course the other guys have had their saying and input into the album. As you say, they are all experienced guys that have brought really good ideas to the music. So, I would say that I’ve had the role of main person in the creation of Vomitizer. But we are going through some changes now, and we might work in other ways with the songs in the future. We just have to see how we will do this going forward.
What is it like to play death metal in black metal Norway? Do people come to your gigs? Do they support you, do they buy CDs? If you organize an event, how many people come?
Of course, Norway is mostly famous for their black metal, and you‘ve got a lot of black metal bands coming out. But there are more than enough death metal bands from Norway too, and some really good ones, so it’s not like we’re the only death metal band around.
Vomitizer has not played live yet, and we will have our first gig at Legend Metalfest. We have just started looking for more gigs, so I guess this is a question that will be easier to answer in the future.
Death metal is a hard hobby and an even harder lifestyle. What does it mean to you? What do you like most about it and how do you perceive it? How did you get into it?
Metal has been a part of me for most of my life. I started at an early age to listen to bands like Kiss, AC/DC and Twisted Sister. That may not be metal music in itself, but it carved out the path from an early age. And already back then music was a big part of my life. It’s hard to describe what it means to me, because I think it is such a big part of who I am and what I like to do. If this music wasn’t a part of me, I think I would be a different person and done many other choices in life. So yeah, it’s hard to put it into words.
I deliberately ask this question to all the bands so they can do a bit of promotion for the future. Please tell us what VOMITIZER are planning in the near future? What can we look forward to? If you want to say something to fans, promoters, labels, here is the space...
We are now looking for gigs to promote the album and Vomitizer. hopefully we will do a lot of concerts in the near future and you will all get a chance to see Vomitizer live.
I’ve also started working on an EP for Vomitizer, and I am mostly done with the lyrics and the ideas for most of the songs. We have this concept that we have decided to do going forward. Release the Rats have a story going, and the EP will be a sort of side story to the main one you find on the album. We will also put in a cover song that have lyrics that will fit into this story. When we do our next album, it will be a completely new story that will also be followed by an EP with a side story and a cover song that fits with the lyrics. So, the plans are there.
Thank you very much for the interview and I wish VOMITIZER lots of sold out records and sold out venues. Good luck in your personal life too. I'm looking forward to the next death metal apocalypse!
Thank you for the interview and great questions. We will be there at the next apocalypse giving you the soundtrack to a world falling apart. In the meantime, do check out our Bandcamp-page at https://vomitizer.bandcamp.com/ to get a feeling of all hell breaking loose. Up the horns!
Recenze/review - VOMITIZER - Release the Rats (2025):
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