Albums of Purgatory Interview Paganizer's Rogga

Albums of Purgatory: Firstly, what's the band up to now the album is done?

Rogga: We are currently waiting for the album to be released, which will happen sometime in june or july. Apart form that we are beginning to check out all possibilites for live gigs around Europe later this year.Also we are checking out the possibilities to get an 7" picture single released sometime this year, it will probably feature a track form the new album aswell as unreleased material. However it´s just in the planning stages yet so we´ll have to see what happens.

AoP: What can we expect from the new release?

Rogga: Expect death and total carnage! Haha, well the album is far superior our last release and the sound we managed to achieve in Sunlight Studio is totally crushing. In general you can say that this album is a faster,
tighter and above all more professional follow up to the last album. We are very satisfied with the material and also that Jörgen Sandström (ex Grave vocalist) do some vocals on a couple of songs, which turned out amazingly
brutal.

AoP: So do you have any touring planned? Are there any official dates yet?

Rogga: Hopefully we will get onto a tour with some other bands this fall aswell as do some extra gigs on our own throughout Germany and maybe some more countries.As nothing is final yet we don´t have any dates, but we also hope to tour USA in a near future aswell since our label is based there.As of now live gigs/touring will be our main objective to promote the album as much as possible.

AoP: How did Paganizer begin?

Rogga: Back in 98 me and some friends began playing more thrash oriented metal and after the debut album we split up. I kept the name and recorded some new material with some other friends and after that material had been laying around for ages unreleased our current label heard it and offered us a deal.After that things has picked up and as of now we are again a full lineup.

AoP: Can you remember your first gig (how did it go)?

Rogga: Our first gig was in our hometown, and it actually went really good. It was together with some other bands I can´t remember but we were nervous as hell as always but it went smooth and afterwards there was the normal celebration with heaps of alcohol...

AoP: What do you think of the position of metal and music in general today?

Rogga: Metal is again growing strong as in the early eighties, atleast here in Sweden. Nowadays lots of metal bands get on the charts and are featured in tv etc. Unfortunatly most of todays metal is shit if you ask me, but things would probably not be better if deth metal got onto tv and in the radio. It is meant as an underground movement and it works just fine as it is now. However there could always be more fans around, so we could make some money on our music...haha!

AoP: What are your favourite Paganizer tracks?

Rogga: I´ll just pick one from each album... "Deadbanger" Since I hate the first album I have to go fo the only song I wrote on that one which is "Into the catcombs". I really like that ong still today and maybe we should do a new version of it, atleast live. "Promoting total death" Our first real album which I still like, my favourite tracks are "Only ashes remain" and "Brutal way to die", I think those tracks are fucking killer death metal songs. "Dead unburied" From our new album I have to pick out "Landscapes made of human skin", it´s the best track I´ve ever written and it turned out amazing. Also the tracks "Even in hell" and "Beyond redemption" (which is to
find as an mp3 on www.foreverunderground.com) are killer hits, but the whole album is actually fucking great, haha!

AoP: What are your favourite all time songs?

Rogga: That´s like an impossible question, haha! Anyway, here´s some songs I definetly never will grow tired of... Grave - Deformed (and all other songs from the first three albums...) Edge of Sanity - Twilight, Vader - wings,
Slayer - Angel of death and we´ll just leave it at that since otherwise I ahve to sit here writing all day...

AoP: What was the first record you bought?

Rogga: Ahh, the first one I think was the first live album with Iron Maiden and then also "Killers" with the same guys. I also remember getting Kiss´ "Love gun" but I thought that album was shit...haha! The really first stuff in
metal Igot was Accept and Judas Priest, but that was just tape copies from older friends some maybe that doesn´t count?

AoP: What would be your dream band line-up?

Rogga: That would be Tobben/Vomitory on drums, Jörgen/ex Grave on bass and vocals and then maybe (I´m really bad at good guitarists...) I would get Mike Amott from Arch Enemy to play guitar, not just because he´s the best one around but also since he was in one of the best bands ever: Carnage!Then I would force the guys to write only old school Swedish death metal! What a fucking monstrosity of an album that would be, haha!

AoP: Do you have any funny stories about the band you can share with us?

Rogga: Apart from all sick stories relating to our drinking habits (we probably drink more alcohol than the whole of Germany...) one stupid detail is that all members except one are/was working at a local cheese factory when we recorded the second album... Nowaydays only the drummer works there, which really is not anything to be proud of...haha! Besides that rather stupid thing I got a shitload of strange stories from the tour I did as session
singer for Deranged on the Immolation tour last year, but if I tell any of it the guys from Immolation or Destroyer 666 maybe won´t talk to me again, haha!

AoP: And finally, what do you see in the future for Paganizer?

Rogga: I see death! Atleast death metal, which we´ll be continuing playing until we either die of old age or health problems brought on by the drinking...As of right now we really are anxious to get the album out to see the
reactions and get out to play live. Live gigs are really what it´s all about, releasing albums is fun but the
real fun begins on stage.