Interview with death metal band from France - DAGON.
Answered Guillaume Lefebvre (vocals), thank you!
Recenze/review - DAGON - Aeonthology 1990-1992 (2025):
Ave DAGON! Greetings to the French underworld and thank you very much for your resurrection. When I went to pick up your compilation from the mailbox, I was very curious. And I must say that I am literally thrilled. You play old school death metal exactly to my taste. It seems that we are of the same blood. Please tell us why you have only released two demo recordings and one split album in your entire existence? And what was the reason you decided to break the wall of silence this year and release a new CD after so many years? Why this year?
Guillaume: Hi Jakub, and thank you for this interview. The reason Dagon only released 2 demos and 2 tracks on a compilation CD is that in its first incarnation, the band had a very short life. François, who has always been the main creative force behind Dagon, sensed the end of the first wave of death metal at the time. Rather than changing the style to please the audience, he preferred to stop the band, feeling we hadn’t caught the right wave.
Back then, without the internet, we didn’t get much feedback on our music (apart from label rejections :-) ), and since François wanted to move quickly, I think it discouraged him a bit. He was handling everything himself, and without speaking for him, I think he’d had enough. On top of that, some members were starting to work, I was becoming a student… the usual reasons bands break up!
We reunited 30 years later thanks to the initiative of the label Xenokorp, which wanted to reissue Bound to Mutation back in 2022, and the interest of the French YouTube channel Voyage au centre de la scène, which made a short feature on us. In the end, the release on Xenokorp didn’t happen, and some time later Raph from Great Dane Records reached out to me. By the time everything was set up, the reissue came out this year.
In my review, I wrote that when I went to the mailbox to pick up your CD, which Raphael from GREAT DANE RECORDS sent me, I didn't know you at all. Yet in 1992, you released a split with SUPURATION and PUTRID OFFAL, which, by the way, I have loved since my youth. Will you please take us back to the good old days and reminisce? How did DAGON actually come about, who inspired you back then? Please walk us through the history of your band.
Dagon, which wasn’t even called Dagon back then, was formed at the very end of 1989 by François, who brought in Franck on drums and Gérald on guitar. At that time, the band didn’t have a bassist or a singer.
I met François through his cousin, who was in my class, at a concert he was organizing in his hometown of Bruay, in the north of France. François used to organize a lot of concerts back then. That particular show featured Coroner, Watchtower, Tankard, Loudblast, and Death Power (you can see the poster here: https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca7J3TVLnVh/).
As I mentioned, the band didn’t have a singer or bassist yet, and I had just finished a small experience as a singer in a thrash band at my high school. So I offered my services to François, who invited me to an audition. I got along well with everyone, and they decided to keep me as the singer.
At the time, the band was more thrash than death metal. Our influences included Kreator, Slayer, Coroner, but also the early albums of Death and Pestilence. Shortly after I joined, we recorded the rehearsal tape Four Paths to Lunacy as a kind of calling card to find a bassist. This first demo is quite thrash, but when listening back for the reissue, you can clearly hear Chuck Schuldiner’s influence and, already, François’s talent as a composer!
If I'm not mistaken, only guitarist François Janquin and singer Guillaume Lefebvre remain from the original lineup of DAGON. But other members also played on the demo recordings. How does it work with copyrights and such? I'm not very familiar with this, but did you have to get permission from the other members in order to release the compilation?
Since François is the sole composer of the band, and most of the lyrics were written either by him or by me, we didn’t really need to ask anyone for permission. Moreover, when the band reunited, the former members were involved in the project and were aware of the reissue.
It can be found that three new members joined the lineup this year (source: Encyklopedia Metallum). Does that mean that DAGON started playing again? Did you become an active band again after years of hibernation?
Yes, we are active again. At the time of the reunion, we got back together with three original members: Franck on drums, Gérald, who had switched to bass, and Étienne on second guitar. After a few ups and downs and lineup changes, the band stabilized with François Janquin (guitar), Valère Lefebvre (guitar), Caspar De Gruil (bass), Pierre Facon (drums, ex-Death Control, ex-Hast), and Guillaume Lefebvre (vocals).
Since then, we’ve played about ten shows, including gigs with Left to Die, Incantation, and Agressor in Lille, as well as with Misanthrope and Bliss of Flesh at the Haeresis Festival.
I'm a little confused about this. I don't know the old demo recordings, and the new CD sounds dirty and has that great old school patina, but it's still not as "dirty" as the recordings used to be. What formats did you actually have the demos in? How did you approach mastering? Or are the songs re-recorded with new band members?
No, the tracks haven’t been re-recorded; they were remastered by a contact Raph from Great Dane Records usually works with for his label. They did a great job, considering our only sources were old cassettes (except for the two tracks from the Obscurum per Obscurius compilation, which had been released on CD). So it still has that vintage feel, but the songs were slightly boosted by the remastering. Raph handled this technical part himself, as he’s used to it, and we think the result sounds pretty cool!
What were your beginnings as a musician? How did you actually get into death metal? What was your first performance? What was the first concert you attended? Who influenced you the most in the beginning? Do you have any formal musical education?
In the band, Valère and I are the only members without formal musical training. Pierre and Caspar both went to conservatories and are music teachers, and François also attended a music school and is an accomplished musician.
As for how I got into death metal—speaking for myself—I started listening to heavy metal with bands like Iron Maiden and Scorpions when I was 11 or 12. A bit later, a friend from school introduced me to Metallica and Megadeth, and then I discovered the whole wave of German thrash metal with Kreator, Destruction, and so on. In Lille, there was already Loudblast, which was my first death metal concert (though I had already seen Coroner opening for Motörhead in 1988 or ’89).
Regarding death metal itself, the first three albums I listened to were Leprosy by Death, Consuming Impulse by Pestilence and Schizophrenia by Sepultura. I saw Sepultura in Belgium during the Beneath the Remains tour, and Massacra was also on the bill that day. After that, I saw almost every band of the era, because Lille, where I live, is close to Belgium, and all the bands would play there.
It's probably like this (and I see it in my friends too), that when you grow up with a certain kind of music, it stays in your blood forever. I go to festivals, I meet and hear a lot of great young bands, but then some old bards come along, often tired, and they blow me away. What I remember about the nineties is that what was great about them was that every band sounded different. To this day, I can recognize a few notes of old MERCYLESS when I hear them somewhere. How do you perceive death metal in the context of the times? Do you follow new trends, bands, are you still an active listener, or are you just an old-timer? I'm not really into those generic, artificial technical death metal bands. They bore me, I can't help it. They have no soul, no drive... well, some of them...
Over the years, I’ve broadened my musical horizons considerably and listen to a wide variety of styles. But when it comes to death metal, I still have a strong preference for the old school—bands like Death, Obituary, Entombed, Carcass, Morbid Angel, and, of course, Mercyless from France, which I absolutely love. These are timeless bands that I still enjoy seeing live whenever possible. I still have all my old vinyl records, from the most famous to the more obscure releases.
I also appreciate more recent bands. My sons listen to metal too, so I keep an eye on their tastes, which is how I discovered groups like Blood Incantation, Gatecreeper, Baest, and Nile. I’m also very fond of bands from my region, like Skelethal, whom I adore, as well as Frakasm and Mortal Scepter, who play thrash-metal.
I grew up in the socialist bloc, many recordings only reached us after several years, and our society is still marked by this mess today. Metal was rebellion for us, we were young, we wanted to be different. We waited for hours in front of the store and then often left disappointed because only a limited number of cassettes had arrived, so we begged for copies. We slept in sleeping bags so we could be the first to get the new Sodom. But those are my memories, what are yours? I'd be interested to know what it was like in France in the 1990s?
I got into metal around the age of 11 or 12, but I really started listening seriously around 15, so in 1987. I experienced the explosion of thrash first, and a bit later, death metal. It was an amazing time, full of energy and excitement. In France, though, there weren’t that many of us listening to it, and while the big releases were relatively easy to find, smaller bands were often harder to track down. Plus, you had to have the money to buy all those records, so my friends and I had a system: each of us would buy one record per month and record it onto cassette for the others.
I discovered many bands thanks to radio shows as well. And in the early ’90s, there was an amazing metal record store in Lille called Underground Records. It was like a little paradise, and all the bands would cross paths there. That’s actually how the Obscurum per Obscurius CD compilation came about, for example. We even ended up rehearsing there with Dagon, renting Loudblast’s practice space. It’s a really great memory. Looking back, we were pretty lucky!
There were also a lot of interesting bands in France at the time: Nomed, Massacra, Loudblast, Death Power, Agressor, Supuration, Mercyless… It wasn’t easy for them, but they still managed to tour.
I'm always interested in how the band and musicians perceive the current situation on the scene. I really like France as a country. I've been there several times, and even though I don't drink much wine, I've always been thrilled by the sights, the people, the atmosphere, and even the underground scene. But that's my view from the outside. How do you perceive your current scene? By the way, your women are really beautiful, no question about it!
I don’t drink much wine either—our region in the north leans more toward beer, a bit like over there, right?
As for the scene, metal tours have always tended to skip France. Usually it’s just a date in Paris, and maybe two or three other cities if you’re lucky. Here in Lille, where I live, it’s not too bad—there are quite a few shows, whether in large venues or smaller clubs. We have a club called the Black Lab with a great metal and hardcore lineup; that’s where we played with Left to Die, Incantation, and Agressor. And in Belgium, there are always lots of shows as well.
Regarding the French scene itself, compared to Dagon’s first period when there were already quite a few bands, I’d say there are now a huge number of groups, across all styles. And something that didn’t really exist back then are the big-name acts that tour even abroad. I’m thinking of Gojira, of course, but also Alcest, Gorod, Igorrr, Year of No Light, The Great Old Ones, or Black Bomb A (in a more hardcore style), and let’s not forget Loudblast and Mercyless, who are still around!
Overall, bands are much more professional than they used to be, and there’s a lot more media coverage now, thanks to the web.
A lot has changed since I started listening to metal. We have new technologies, Spotify, the internet, everything is more chaotic. I don't see it so much anymore and I tell myself that I should resign, lock myself away in a cabin in the woods and just listen to old recordings and read. But I can't, I still enjoy it immensely. People, clubs, beer, girls, new and old bands, it's simply my life. How do you perceive music? How would you define death metal? What does it mean to you? Is it a hobby, a lifestyle? Feel free to engage in philosophical reflections.
For me, music is more than sound, it’s life, my life. Over the years, I’ve broadened my tastes, but old-school death metal will always have a special place in my heart. I still love catching both classic and new bands live, and you’ll always see me in band shirts with long hair, because metal isn’t just music, it’s a way of expressing who I am.
Death metal, and music in general, is both a hobby and a lifestyle. It’s about energy, intensity, creativity, and sharing the experience with people at shows, clubs, and festivals, it’s about feeling alive. It’s also about a connection to the past, those first albums, that thrill of discovery, and the community that formed around it.
I still follow new bands too, through my sons’ tastes as i said or the modern underground scene, but the core of it, the passion and the soul, is what keeps me hooked. The scene has changed: it’s more organized and planned than before, which can make some bands feel less spontaneous, but the essence remains. Death metal is history, life, and energy, it’s in your blood forever, and I could never give it up.
Times have changed not only in terms of the fact that listeners today have a wide range of options for accessing music, but also in terms of how music itself is recorded. Completely new studio technologies, digitization, various editing techniques, etc. Have you noticed these changes? As a musician, do you keep up with what's new? And do you like it? Or are you more into the classics, traditional methods?
When it comes to recording and studio techniques, we have a lot of catching up to do with Dagon. Our methods are pretty much stuck in the past… well, 30 years in the past, in fact! It takes us ages to record new material because we’re not really used to modern approaches. We’re definitely old school in that sense.
That said, we’re ready to embrace it. We have about ten new songs waiting to be recorded, and a new album is in the works for Great Dane Records. So even if it’s a learning curve, we’re excited to dive in and see how far we can push our sound with today’s tools.
Before I forget... Will "Aeonthology 1990-1992" also be released on vinyl? I think fans would definitely appreciate it and it would be a beautiful collector's item.
Great Dane Records will release a very limited vinyl edition, so fans (if we have any) shouldn’t wait too long to get their copy. I’m sure Raph will give you a heads-up in time!
Does DAGON play live? I imagine a small club, around 200 people, a great atmosphere. I'd love to see you in concert sometime. How about a tour?
Even back then, live shows were our priority, and that hasn’t changed. Between 1990 and 1992, we played over 20 concerts, sharing the stage with bands like Loudblast, Agressor, Mercyless, Cannibal Corpse, Sadus, Samael, Massacra, and Supuration.
Since our return, we’ve played around ten shows, including gigs with Left to Die, Incantation, and Agressor in Lille, Sumus Diabolus Incarnatus in Béthune, and more recently at the Haeresis Festival alongside Misanthrope, Bliss of Flesh, and a few others.
We try to play at least one show a month and are open to all kinds of opportunities. We don’t have anything against touring, but we all have jobs, and Valère, our second guitarist, is still a student. That said, as I mentioned, we’re open to anything, like doing a 3-4 date run over a long weekend? Why not? There are also lots of metal festivals these days, and being able to play at few of them is one of our goals.
Do you have any other plans for DAGON in the future? Or was this year's compilation just a dream come true and you're not planning anything else? If you have a message for fans, labels, promoters, here's the space.
This reissue was definitely a dream come true, thanks to Great Dane Records, and it’s been amazing. Now, after a 30-year break, we want to pick up the pace and start releasing new material regularly, that’s what drives us. I think it will also make it easier for us to book shows. So if anyone is interested in having Dagon play, don’t hesitate to get in touch!
As for releases, we’re very happy with Great Dane Records, they take great care of us.
Actually, I have to thank both DAGON for the interview and especially for the music, as well as Raphael, who broadened my horizons by sending me your CD for review. Thank you very much, I really appreciate it. I'm an old archivist and fan, and as such, I really appreciate your words. I wish you success as musicians and in your personal lives. I'm going to put on "Aeonthology 1990-1992" and forget about the strange world we live in for a while!
Thank you very much for your kind words and for your very interesting questions, I hope you will like the answers!
Recenze/review - DAGON - Aeonthology 1990-1992 (2025):
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