Albums of Purgatory interview Vomitory's Tobias Gustafsson

Albums of Purgatory: Firstly, what's the band up to right now?

Tobias Gustafsson: We've just made some shows in Sweden together with Cannibal Corpse, Sinister, Myrkskog and Vader. Besides that we're starting to focus on a new album. We've got a couple of new songs that we're working with.

AoP: How would you describe the Vomitory sound?

TG: I don't know if I'm able to describe the sound but the Vomitory style is straightforward death metal.

AoP: How did you get involved with the band?

TG: I was playing in another band in the beginning of the 1990's and the bass player of this band started to play in Vomitory. I already knew the Vomitory guys. We'd met at gigs and on the pub and when they decided to add another guitar player to their line-up they asked me and I joined the band in -91.

AoP: Have you been involved in any other projects and if so how do they compare musically to Vomitory?

TG: It's been a couple of bands before Vomitory but nothing as serious as this. One of the bands recorded two demos. It was doom metal so that's pretty far from the Vomitory style. I'm still into that kind of metal. Candlemass rules! I was able to see them at Wacken last year - awesome show!

AoP: You have toured with some big names in the Metal World, which ones have been the most enjoyable to work with?

TG: All the bigger bands are great. They're more organised and focused on what they're doing so usually it's pure fun when you're out with a bigger production. It can be a bit chaotic when there are too many bands on the bill and people tend to get a bit irritated due to the circumstances. But usually it's no problem. We've had some great experiences with bands like Cannibal Corpse, Marduk, Dark Funeral and Amon Amarth, just to mention a few.

AoP: What are your favourite Vomitory tracks?

TG:  That's a really hard one to answer. I really like most of the songs we've done but it could be for different reasons. Some songs are just great fun to perform live while others are musically great but don't work out live. And there are others that got great working lyrics etc. It very much depends on the situation. Just to mentioning some from the new album it's "Blessed and Forsaken", "Nailed, Quartered, Consumed", "Blood Rapture", "Chaos Fury" and "Madness Prevails".

AoP: What are your favourite all time songs?

TG: That's even a harder one to answer! There's a lot of good stuff out there. But "Ridden with disease" (Autopsy), "Left hand path" (Entombed), "Extremely rotten flesh" (Grave), everything with Black Sabbath (Ozzy era), "Black diamond" (Kiss), "Reign in blood" (Slayer, the whole album), "After accident" (Dead Infection), "I'm a Viking" (Yngwie Malmsteen), "Dead cut up and ready to fuck" (Ravenous) and of course all Vomitory songs.

AoP: What was the first record you bought?

TG: My first album was "Lick it up" with Kiss. Not the best Kiss album but it was the start of the great world of metal for me.

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

TG: That's hard. I guess the Vomitory line-up - it's good and strong and it works out really well. If it would be possible to have some kind of all-star line-up I would have Chris Reifert on drums and vocals, Zakk Wylde and John Norum on lead guitar, Emperor Magus Caligula on bass, Jon Lord on Hammond organ and Kentha Philipsson on tambourine. Try to imagine how that would sound!

AoP: If you could do a cover of any song for a tribute album to any band, what would you choose and why?

TG: "Ridden with disease" with Autopsy. Their first album is a fucking killer!

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

TG:  I guess it's pretty powerful when it comes to the mainstream music like Brittney Spears for example. Shitloads of small kids want to dress and look like her and people buy all kind of strange merchandise with their fave band just to be able to be the biggest fan or whatever. But I really don't care - the world is full of feebleminded souls. I play my kind of music and that's it.

AoP: Which other bands in the scene stand out for you at the moment?

TG:  Well, I really respect all bands that have managed to stick around for more than a couple of years, like Cannibal Corpse and Marduk - bands that have constantly released albums, done tours and kept it going. There's lots of shit to deal with on a daily basis and it's really easy to just give it up instead of fighting for it. There are lots of those bands out there that deserves the respect that they've earned.

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

TG:  I can't come up with anything at the moment but there are always strange and funny things that happen when you're on tour or in the studio. I just can't think of anything right now.

AoP: What do you see in the future for Vomitory?

TG: We're gonna try to have a new album out as soon as possible. Probably in a year from now. And we really wanna do a US tour as soon as possible. South America and Japan would be great too. There are also a couple of countries in Europe that we still haven't played in so hopefully everything will turn into reality really soon.

AoP: Thanks again for the interview and good luck for the future.

TG: Thanks for the support and keep up the good work! Check out our new album. Stay true, stay hard, stay metal!