ENTOMBED Frontman: 'All The Biggest Leaders In The World Have Been Mentally Ill'

ENTOMBED vocalist L.G. Petrov, in the first of two interviews, recently spoke to Lucem Fero's Welsh interviewer Anthony Morgan. Topics of discussion included circumstances surrounding the delay of latest album "Serpent Saints", NAPALM DEATH, the welcomed return to raw aggression and how the internal chemistry of ENTOMBED has evolved. Several excerpts from the interview follow:

Lucem Fero: How did "Serpent Saints" come about?

L.G. Petrov: "It was supposed to come out last year (laughs),but we didn't have the songs ready. We had a lot of shows to do, so we didn't have time to concentrate 100% on it. We had some songs finished though, and we released them as an EP called 'When in Sodom'. After we did those shows, we sat down and concentrated fully on the nine songs that are on 'Serpent Saints'. Finally it's out (laughs)."

Lucem Fero: Is "Serpent Saints" more raw then?

L.G. Petrov: "Yeah, I think so. It's more straightforward, and there's not too much technical things. I would say it's more straightforward... When we recorded the material, we didn't record that many takes. If it sounds good, then let's take it. We didn't think, 'Oh, we can do this better.' We were satisfied; if it fitted, we just took it."

Lucem Fero: So future albums are going to be raw and aggressive as well?

L.G. Petrov: "Yeah. We started to make a couple of songs just now, and it sounds good."

Lucem Fero: Could you tell me about some of those songs?

L.G. Petrov: "We have three or four under construction, and it has slow parts with metal riffs. Then it goes into faster parts."

Lucem Fero: Would they be for an album release, or a future EP?

L.G. Petrov: "Oh yeah. Definitely for a future album release."

Lucem Fero: So there's not going to be another EP like "When in Sodom"?

L.G. Petrov: "You never know (laughs). There's been a couple of those, but it's always good to start straight away so you don't wait and have to rush the thing later on. It would be good to have an album done within half a year, six months or something."
Lucem Fero: You said that in the past it's been that way (one dominant personality within the band),as though there was a dominant personality when there shouldn't have been. What did you mean?

L.G. Petrov: "When Uffe (Cederlund, DISFEAR / ex-ENTOMBED guitarist) was in the band he tended to do a lot of the material, some of which was good and some of which was really bad. At a point you didn't have the energy to say that it was good or bad, which would then create bad feelings and so on. Now though, we're open and honest with each other."

Lucem Fero: Are you really going to tour "Serpent Saints", or are you just going to do some shows and then do a new album?

L.G. Petrov: "We're going to do as many shows as we get. I would want to do a UK tour with NAPALM DEATH; that would be my dream (laughs)."

Lucem Fero: Are you trying to get that arranged with NAPALM DEATH?

L.G. Petrov: "Yeah, we'll ask them. We would be glad if they said yes."

Lucem Fero: Would you ever consider recording material with Shane (Embury, NAPALM DEATH bassist) and the boys?

L.G. Petrov: "Yeah, though they live in England. I did try before, but as soon as somebody was going to travel either here or to England there was something coming up for either of the bands."

Lucem Fero: You said that there's always a serpent crawling around trying to gain something. Could you tell me more about that?

L.G. Petrov: "Take the church for example, which is all about money. They try to live in their own little way, and try to appear as a good thing. They're always doing things for their own cause though, and if people die within it they don't care because they feel they got the right. There's a lot of people in the institutions that take part in the government as well — nobody cares about the little man (laughs). It's just madness, and I think the madness itself is a cool thing. All the biggest leaders in the world have been mentally ill, and we keep choosing the ones all over and over again (laughs). It's just a mad world, we're part of it and you just deal with it when it comes along."

Lucem Fero: You don't have a vocal coach do you?

L.G. Petrov: "No. I went twice on one occasion, but it didn't do anything for me (laughs)."

Lucem Fero: Is there a reason why it didn't do anything for you? When you went to a vocal coach, what didn't you like about it?

L.G. Petrov: "He made me sing ELVIS songs (laughs)."

Read the entire interview at www.lucemfero.com.