Hi Yiannis!

A bit stressed by the entire shitmas bullshit going on these days but apart from that I'm feeling great.

Wow, thanks for the kind words on our newest effort. Much appreciated!

Mhh, everything from Beer to Vodka does a good job for us, haha.

Even though it took us 3 years to get Carnage Victory released, it didn't take us half as long to get the songs written and recorded. In fact, the album was already finished and shelved one year prior to the actual release date now. We were just held back by the typical business problems like figuring out a new contract, getting the artwork done, doing a second better mix etc. The recording itself was done in late summer and fall 2008. This time we worked with Christian Schmid at the Music Factory Studio in Kempten. He did a wonderful job with the recording and helped me a lot with getting my best vocals on tape so far.

Yep, Liapakis was in the studio that day and we asked him to improvise something over these parts. He immediately came up with that Greek prayer. To us it sounded fitting and so we just left it like it was, first take. I knew that our Greek friends would appreciate that idea too, haha.

I was searching the web about some newer crimes committed under the guidance of the church. An easy task. They have so many skeletons in their closet. I stumbled across an Australian organization, taking care of victims of child abuse. The name of that organization is Broken Rites. All hail to them!

There was a priest who molested, raped and seduced children over the period of more than 50 years and, of course, the church did nothing to stop him or help his victims. By discovering all his crimes the people found out that more than 100 priests had committed crimes like that in Australia around the same time too. Unbelievable. The catholic church is nothing but a fascist pedophile swinger club. Fuck them all.

I love Benton's lyrics! The older I get the more I hate to be fed with lies. I am an atheist and not a devil-worshiper. But in the eyes of those filthy christian pigs I AM a devil worshiper. So, to say it with SABBAT: You say I'm the devil then by hell the devil I'll be.

I don't care what makes child molesters do what they do. I'd just cut their dicks off and feed it to them while they're being raped by gay prison gangs. There should be no tolerance AT ALL towards people who commit such crimes. Eye for an eye.

Well, talking about my favourite MERCYFUL FATE album, I have to talk about the first era. Both Melissa and Don't Break The Oath are perfect albums. Also the mini LP was a timeless, giant classic. So, all of these releases as one are my favourite MERCYFUL FATE release. I also dig some later stuff like In The Shadows or 9 especially. But they don't have the occult and sinister atmosphere of the very old stuff. And, yes, sure, our song is nothing but a sheer tribute to these gods. I've sent the song to King himself recently, I hope he'll send me a reply once.

It's exactly like you say: to me the devil is just a synonym for rebellion and anti-establishment behavior and, in general, following your own path. It really struck me when I first heard Eric Adams singing Satan! in Bridge Of Death. That was in 1984 when I was just 14 years old. Shivers ran down my spine and I thought YES!!!. Well, maybe I am a satanist and I just don't know it, haha.

It was a great shock back then and it nearly killed the band. Thankfully we gave it a second thought and continued, thanks to Jens and Matze who convinced me to keep the tank rolling. Jorg and Oli left because they just were burnt out and had no ideas anymore for our kind of Power Metal. They wanted to play other stuff.

Reborn In Steel: I like the guitar sound and the raw, unpolished approach of the songs. I think that my vocals suck on that album 'cause I just screamed my lungs out but lots of people still like it so I won't say anything bad, haha.
Wardogs Of Metal: Was our most successful album commercially. The right album at the right time and place. I still like it a lot even though there is one or two songs that I think could have been better.
Bloodlust:

I am still very proud of that album. In a fair world this should have been our break-through album to worldwide success. In the real world though it was just a great Metal record with nearly as good sales as Wargods....

Slaughter Prophecy: Our best album so far in my opinion! It featured our most brutal and most diverse songs back then. The production was quite heavy and loud but could have been a bit cleaner.
Iron Blessings: Features our best song ever namely Open Wide The Gate. Apart from that this album clearly showed that we were on the verge of breaking up. Definitely my least favourite SACRED STEEL album. It just reminds me of the bad times too much.
Hammer Of Destruction: A brilliant first half with lots of energy and power and a not so great second half with some unfinished and a bit too spontaneous songs that we rushed to record before we finished them really. It was a new start with a new line-up. We reckon it as a kind of second debut album.
Carnage Victory: My favourite album along Slaughter Prophecy. It will be a hard task to come up with an even better album next time but we'll try.

The feedback was great, yeah. We have plans for a 7 single next year. We are the slowest band in the world when it comes to songwriting or rehearsing so I guess the next album will be finished in 2020. We have one(!) new song finished though; it's entitled The Stillborn Restless Ghost.

It's more a Doom project with friends from NOCTURNAL. It's pretty strange old-school Doom, low-fi and retro. We only have recorded 4 songs so far that were featured on two 7 singles and one LP compilation. We're planning to record a full-length album next year, when time allows it.

We all have full-time jobs, families and other projects so an extended tour is pretty unlikely to happen. But we'll do our best to play as many single shows as possible.

That's an easy answer! MANOWAR are and were the biggest disappointment and they continue to disappoint me and all their die-hard old-school fans constantly. Just to mention: giving us shitty Christmas songs, cheesy pop ballads, crappy albums, worthless Joey bullshit talks etc. They once were kings.

Wow, only 5 albums of 2009? That's a tough one. It really was a strong Metal year with tons of great releases. But the 5 best ones were:
01.THE DEVIL'S BLOOD - The Time Of No Time Evermore
02.WHILE HEAVEN WEPT - Vast Oceans Lachrymose
03.CANDLEMASS - Death Magic Doom
04.DEMONICAL - Hellsworn
05.W.A.S.P. - Babylon

Thank you very much for this entertaining interview! We can't wait to visit your beautiful country once more. Not to mention the fantastic food over there. Thanks for the support, Yiannis! Keep supporting the underground.