David
Ketzer
All is well in the Ketzer camp. Our new record "Cloud Collider" has been out for about half a year now and we're looking forward to the re-releases of "Endzeit Metropolis" and "Satan's Boundaries Unchained" on CD and LP in the beginning of November. We're also currently knee deep in the preparations for the ten-year anniversary show of our debut album.
I think it was back in around 2007 when we started writing our first album, which then came out two years later. There was somewhat of a "new wave" of German blackened thrash metal bands going around with not only us but also bands such as "Cruel Force" or "Witching Hour". We might have been one of the more recognized bands within that genre but one shouldn't forget that we were all heavily influenced by not only the 80s classics, but also bands like "Desaster" or "Deströyer 666" who were there long before us.
I guess you could say that "Satan's Boundaries Unchained" still matters a great deal to us, we have never stopped playing the songs in our live sets and, listening to the record today in 2019, it still sounds as great as it did ten years ago.
We have been getting asked a lot about our first two albums, which haven't been available as physical records for years now. We wanted to give our newer fans, who might have come a bit too late to the party, the opportunity to enjoy these two albums as vinyl records or CDs with the live bonus tracks. The reason we're celebrating "Satan's Boundaries Unchained" with a special live gig in our hometown Cologne is - as you mentioned - because it's the albums 10th anniversary. Who knows, maybe in 2022 we'll celebrate the 10th anniversary of "Endzeit Metropolis".
It's hard for us to say and we should probably leave the listener to judge in which way "Satan's Boundaries Unchained" is special compared to other records of the same genre. I think what a lot of people love about the album are some of the catchy lead guitar melodies. Those sure were a trademark on the record. What also made the album stand out is its distinct cover, painted by Andrei Bouzikov. One might say that there have been hundreds of goats on metal covers (one might also say too many, and I would agree), but there is something about the mix of color and imagery that gave the record something iconic. Once you saw it, you wouldn't forget it.
For us, the anti-religious themes already come with our name: "Ketzer" means heretic in German. We started making music at the age of around 14, three of us had just "celebrated" their confirmation at the local church. Not because we were convinced of Christian faith, it was just something you did. However, during the process of confirmation we had to go to church once a week to learn about the bible, Jesus and so on and so forth. You could say that was when we really got to know the enemy, haha. It was also the time we started listening to punk rock and heavy metal. A couple of years and demo tapes later we started writing that "satanic" record and everything that had happened in the years before just fell into place.
I actually don't remember much, since we had spent months and months on and off in Mersus' studio (ex-drummer in Zarathustra and Deströyer 666), a small cellar rehearsal room. I think myself and one of our guitar players, Chris, had to study for our final school exams during that time, sitting in the studio cracking the books in between the recordings. Back then, Mersus didn't have a lot of the same technical opportunities in his studio, which he has now, so it still amazes me how good the album still sounds. I wouldn't change a thing.
I have a lot of fond memories of that time, since we played our first bigger festival shows at Rock Hard and Party San Festival, as well as our first European tour alongside the Italian band Baphomets Blood. We toured in two cars, we had a small dog with us, drove 12 hours from Denmark to Poland and played mostly pretty small stages. Nevertheless, good times!
No, the first offer by a label outside of what you might call the "underground scene" came by Metal Blade records after we had released "Endzeit Metropolis".
I still remember the Party San Festival 2010 where those recordings were made quite vividly. It had been raining for days and there was mud everywhere. To get to the stage you basically had to pull your feet out from the mud every step or two. We opened the festival which back then had been the biggest stage we played so far. Although the recording is a little raw, I think it makes for a great little extra, which fans, regardless if they were there back then or not, will really enjoy.
"The Fire to Conquer the World" has become somewhat of our "Smoke on the Water". I guess it's safe to say that our fans almost expect us to play that song when going to one of our shows and we always do. When preparing for the anniversary show, "Inverted Cross" was one of the tracks that I enjoyed playing the most, since it hasn't been part of our live set for many, many years and I head to learn the basslines again and even though it was written 11-12 years ago, playing it somehow felt fresh and new.
You mean what the 18-year-old me would tell the 30-year-old me and vice versa? Aside from anything music related, my younger self would probably congratulate me on that damn fine moustache that I've grown. I'm sure he'd also appreciate the three albums that we have released since our debut. My older self might have told young David to just keep on playing the music that feels right for the band, but he, blasting The Misfits on his headphones, wouldn't have listened. He didn't care too much about the future.
You're right, in some parts "Endzeit" had become more melodic than the debut, but in other parts it is almost faster and somehow more brutal. I am thinking about songs like "A requiem for beauty" for example. However, it's an important album in terms of laying the groundwork for our musical DNA, if you want to call it that. Change and progression has always been an integral part of our work and I think our second album is the first time where you can really hear that.
Like I said, the need for change is an important factor when it comes to writing new Ketzer material. In the time between "Endzeit Metropolis" and "Starless" we had listened to a ton of new, inspiring music, also a lot of stuff outside of the heavy metal genres. Of course this might have found its way into the process, however we did not sit down and say "let's do everything different than we have ever done before". I also don't think "Starless" sounds like that. What we did say though is something along the lines of "slower and no blast beats", which of course is a pretty heavy challenge, given the two records we had released before. Even though some people couldn't really follow that new musical direction, I'm still really content with "Starless", as well as its successor "Cloud Collider" that we have just released this year and which presents yet another facet of Ketzer.
It's always hard to pick one, but I guess I'd have to choose "He who stands behind the Rows" for two reasons: 1. That song is an epic classic when it comes to closing our live set and 2. I'm still very content with the lyrics that I wrote for it.
While there is a difference between our first two albums and our third record "Starless" it is far from a change to "alternative" music. I find that comparison a bit farfetched to be honest. While this might be hard for someone to understand who is not a part of the band, I don't really see something like a "previous self", meaning a different identity or however one might describe that… for me, it's all the same.
No, the "Ten years of Satan's Boundaries Unchained" anniversary show in which we will play the album in its entirety will be an exclusive one. We don't want to dwell too much in the past - aside from that, our setlists always includes songs from all four albums.
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