Along with the review of their first EP Sermons of Suffering, I also was able to conduct an interview with Blood Empire. I labeled who is who, so you know who is answering the questions and of course I, Dan Janoff, am asking all the questions. Here is how it went.

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Blood Empire:

Mattias Nojd – Bass
Alexander Nylander – Guitar
Eric Lindh – Screams/Growls
Mattias Gunnarsson – Drums

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Dan: With the story to any band, there is always a beginning, so first off, what influenced you guys into playing music?

Alexander: Artistical expression really, as well as a huge interest for music

Eric: I have always loved music and writing lyrics; and growling has become a passion of mine

Gunnarsson: We have different things that can influence us as individuals. But I think for the most part it’s to create something, something you can be proud of. For example, when we released Furnace Fire on Facebook one of my drumming idols Peter Morén shared the song and said that it was awesome. He is known for playing in Tad Morose, Immoria, and Steel Attack. Just the day after that I was working as a ‘drum tech’ for Peter and he told me that I did I fucking amazing job and that he wouldn’t be able to play what I did, and to hear that from a person you look up to that’s something I am damn proud of!

Mattias: It’s my life force! I have been playing music since I was very young; and have been trying out many different instruments but bass is my favourite

Dan: How did your band come together?

Mattias: Our former guitar player and I wanted to play something just for fun; and that’s when we asked Mattias Gunnarsson to join. After that we have changed both members and our sound many times until we got to where we are now with the current line up and sound.

Eric: I joined the band in the fall of last year and after our first live show I asked Alex if we wanted to try out for guitar
Dan: You are a fairly new band with the release of your first EP. What should a first time listener expect to hear?

Mattias: That’s a question for Alex and Eric to answer!

Alexander: Raw fucking power! Something that isn’t entirely new yet something you haven’t heard before

Eric: Powerful death metal with influences of black and trash to create a fresh and unique sound

Gunnarsson: Heavy and brutal sounds, as it should be. I think you can expect a lot of things. Groovy, fast, heavy catch stuff. A little bit of everything, because we have lots of different influences and we like to combine everything we like into one song
With that, what bands influence your sound?

Eric: Behemoth, Watain, Cannibal Corpse, Skeletonwitch, and Bloodbath to name a few. When it comes to the vocals; I always aim to be as dynamic in my range as possible combining low pitch growls with high pitched screams as well as mid pitched screaming

Mattias: For my bass playing I would like to say Behemoth and Skeletonwitch

Alexander: I don’t know haha! I play what feels right to me, but I guess old school black and death metal as well as ordinary heavy metal. Like Accept, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Entombed, Mayhem and such

Dan: How do you think that will change over time? Do you see yourself experimenting with different styles?

Alexander: You always have to search to new places for inspiration and new things to inspire you, but I think the core will always be the same. It’s like the same dish with some different spices you could say

Eric: I think that we will always have death metal and extreme metal as a core; but sometimes the blends with differ from each other!

Mattias: I think that we will always experiment with a lot of styles but I hope we will stay in my comfort zone which is death, black and extreme metal

Dan: What are you hoping to accomplish over the next year as a band in support of this EP?

Mattias: A record deal would be sweet; and a lot more gigs!

Eric: Like Mattias said; more gigs would be awesome, and more song writing on my part. As smoothly as the song writing right now is a record deal will not be a faraway goal!

Mattias: I agree! With the speed we create new material we might have a full length album within a year!

Alexander: I don’t know really, just writing more and more, get some more live experience and hopefully we will play places we haven’t played before

Gunnarsson: A bigger fan base, and creating faster, heavier and more aggressive songs’ but I think we have found a sound that’s unique in its own way, and that we will stick to it

Dan: If there’s anything else you guys would like to add, this is your chance.

Mattias: Listen to our music, stay strong and follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for updates!

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Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Blood-Empire-Swe/721349504563299?fref=ts

Instagram – http://www.enjoygram.com/bloodempireswe

Twitter – https://twitter.com/BloodEmpireSWE