Haha, I don't know what's up with that. One thing I do know is that the Dutch LOVE brutal Death Metal. The Death Metal scene always has been very strong over here. We love brutal Death Metal so for it was obvious what kind of music we wanted to play. So I guess it could be the drinking water, haha I can't come up with another reason.

I could give an politically correct answer but I will try not to. Let's put it this way, labels are evil. So far Earache hasn't lived up to expectations. Actually we at one point we were totally pissed off at them. But lately things have been getting better and it seems that for this record they are actually gonna do something. The ball is in their court, it's time to show what they are worth. But like I said things are looking good now.

I have been in contact with Dan Tobin (label manager) for a couple of years, just talking about Death Metal and stuff. We never had plans to sign with them we were totally happy with HH. HH put us on the Death Metal map, released our first 2 CD's and got us on great tours! But then things changed, they had some problems and couldn't help us anymore. So we wanted to leave and after the usual bullshit they let us go. So one of the labels we contacted was Earache and after some negotiating we signed a deal with them.

We did not really decide to do it, it's was just the natural growth. When we started writing Fall Of The Despised (2005) we started noticing we were writing differently than we did before. Also Marvin's influence was immense on the sound of SEVERE TORTURE. What we did talk about is that we wanted to write more song orientated like the old school bands did in the past. Especially live the newer songs sound better, you know when you play very fast it's really hard to keep the sound clear for the audience.

We wanted to have some guests on the record that actually put an extra touch to the record. We love the vocals form both Jason and Che and we have been friends with them for a long time, so we asked them. They both liked the idea and recorded some awesome parts!

I really hope that people think that this our best record yet. We all think that this is our best record so far. But I know that it's hard to say if other people think that way, everybody has some sort of feeling with an certain record. So there will be a lot of people that like the older records better. But what is certain is that this our best sounding and tightest record to date!

As a musician you always want the best, so after you record a record you always hear parts that you want to change. However for this record there are less parts that we want to change than we wanted in the past!

That also had to do with growth. We did have a brutal cover for Fall Of The Despised, but after some doubts we decided to go with another cover. We just wanted some cover artwork that fitted the music better. The cover artwork for the first 2 records was perfect for those, but we felt that we needed a change in artwork.

We did a UK tour with them in March this year. They are a great band and great guys to hang out with. Other bands we know or hung out with are BLOOD RED THRONE and MUNICIPAL WASTE. With BRT we did some shows when we both were on HH records and with MW we drank some beers when we both played on the Maryland Death Fest in 2006.

We will always be a Death Metal band, that's just the music we want to play and that's where we are good at. If some off us want to do something different, they will have to do that with other projects. However, we do have some modern parts in our music but we play it so brutal that many people won't even notice. I am not gonna tell which parts, haha

Our technique is a result of years playing fast music, none of us ever studied music. Of course you pick up and learn some things by watching other people play and listening to other bands. I know a lot of bands nowadays are freaks on their instruments and I think that's awesome. However, that is not my cup of tea, except for NECROPHAGIST. But I prefer the more song orientated bands than the total technical bands.

We have a European tour coming up in February 2008 with our good friends in DEW-SCENTED. That is going to be a family affair! We are working on some dates in Australia and New Zealand. We will just see what's coming our way, so I can't tell you more right now.

The scene is very strong at this moment; the younger people seem to love the extreme bands that are coming up now. The older people seem to prefer the older bands. So I can understand what you are saying. I grew up with the older bands so it's hard to say which I prefer more.

So far, we haven't had a lot of feedback from the press, but what we have got is very promising. These are always scary times, we know we have recorded a great record, our best so far, but you have to wait and see what the press and the fans think of it!

To be honest we have been so busy with the record, playing shows, our jobs, I haven't been paying a lot of attention to the new records that came out. I know it's lame but when you are so busy with your own band and social live it just happens, haha

Thanx for the support! To all readers thanx for taking your time! Now go and buy our new record, you will love it! Hopefully we will see all of you in the future at one of our shows!

Cheers Pat