Having said that, do you feel that there’s a big difference between the “Ravenous” album and the Bloody Blasphemy one?
    "I think it’s mostly in sound. We learn from our mistakes every time, from the first album on we’ve learned our way of handling stuff in the studio. Improving pre-production, the recording itself as well as the mixing. This time we did more ourselves so that we had the mixing process in our hands and most of the productions. The God Dethroned sound is more crystallised this time, it’s a bit more heavy album this time and the faster drumming makes it a more intense album. I don’t think that there’s a big change of style from the Bloody Blasphemy album. There are some subtle changes in sound."

Your lyrics are anti Christian to say the least. What is it about Christianity that is so upsetting that you write lyrics against it?
    "There’s nothing wrong with Christianity as such. A belief, if it helps a person to live a better life is good. If you can find support from a God it’s a good thing but as soon as it starts to be dogmatic or you have groups within trying to oppress others or are out for power… In Holland there are a lot of small groups, small churches that have too much power over people and as soon as it’s about power and not faith then it’s wrong. Those are the people we try to hit with our lyrics and not the average Christian that wants to live a good life with the Lord because that’s fine with us. But as soon as the power issue or the hypocrisy of the bigger churches shows its ugly faces that’s what we agitate against."

Is the presence of the Church a big problem in Holland?
    "Holland is a pretty liberal country and usually we don’t have any problems with it. They have tried to ban our gigs one or two times but that’s usually around election time when these small right wing radical Christian parties are trying to make a statement. So it’s more politics than church. Some members from “The First Hour” (I’m not certain I got it right here – Anders) grew up in the small rural communities and a lot of the villages there still lives for the church. The church is literally and figuratively speaking the centre of the town. There’s a lot of intolerance there and incestual problems. I think the surroundings you grow up in influences you and if you can’t walk around in your metal clothes without people staring at you or you’re being banned from things you start to pick against those things, against the hypocrisy. Generally speaking from the bigger picture religion is not a problem in Holland."

We hear so much of The Netherlands being a liberal country. Do you feel that there are certain restrictions that are specifically Dutch?
    "Specifically Dutch I wouldn’t say. I think every government has it’s own policy. If you look at western countries in general there’s not too many big differences that separate them, right wing, left wing governments, religion etc. Where as you have the communist compared to the western governments there’s a big difference in government. When you look at for example the EU-countries there’s not that much of differences."

On the Bloody Blasphemy there were lyrics that dealt with historical events. On this new one there are no such ones. Why?
    "We had a couple of lyrics written for it but there was not any songs that really fitted to them. So instead of doing a thing of it were we had to have any of those we said that if it fits to the song then we’re gonna use it, so probably next time. We don’t want to make it a restriction that we have to do it.
    As with the music we start relatively late with writing lyrics so most of the lyrics are finished when we are in the studio so there is some time pressure to it too. If can’t find a suitably subject for a song then we don’t do it. This album is actually faster and much more brutal generally speaking than the previous one. It’s difficult to find subjects that fit this aggressiveness so you eventually end up with subjects about religion and stuff like that."

Ravenous is your third album after your “comeback”. Has it turned out the way you thought it would when you signed with Metal Blade?
    "At that time we were over the moon. We expected to be signed but only by some smaller label so when Metal Blade got in touch it was a big, big step. We didn’t expect anything because we had no idea how it would turn out. A label that big usually signs a lot of band s and the throw them to the wall and see which one sticks and that could have been the case as well. So we set out with no expectations at all and as it has turned out over the years it’s been a very positive experience. We’ve had a very good relationship with them, personally and business wise. They’ve done a lot for us. The good thing is if they have a lot of money too. There’s been a lot of trust so that we can hand them our new album and they’ll release it. You could not ask for anything more really. I can only say that we are very happy to be with them."

You’ve played in Japan too. Is it as different as it is being described playing in Japan?
    "Absolutely. It is a totally different world. If you look at a city like Tokyo they have a lot of western elements, the neon and stuff like that but the atmosphere is totally different and the people are much more relaxed, there are a lot more people than in your average city too. Looking at the culture it’s just a different world. When you tour anywhere in the world you’ll always find some familiar elements and you still feel at home but in Japan there’s no way you can feel at home because you don’t feel familiar with the situation because you’re in a totally different world.
    As for playing. The audience is different from the European or American. They are intense, maybe more intense than in Europe or the States but they don’t move as much. You can see it in their eyes but there’s no moshing or stage diving as such."

How do you as a band on stage react to an audience that is that behaved as the Japanese?
    "If you experience how this nation works, how polite they are to each other and how tolerant they are... I think it’s something like 13 million living in Tokyo and if you put that many Europeans or Americans in Tokyo you’d have had a war in no time. When you’re there you’ll be amazed by the sheer tolerance of these people and the audience is just a part of these people which makes it easier to understand the way they react. It’s hard to explain and it’s not a disturbance. It’s really fun to be with these people cause they are very grateful even if it’s not a physically response."

You released old material on CD with the title The Ancient Ones too not so long ago. That one came out on Henry’s Cold Blood imprint. How come Metal Blade didn’t release that one?
    "It’s the older stuff and Henry (Stattler – Vocals/lead guitar, leaving Beef – bass, to be mentioned) decided to buy the rights to every God Dethroned song that’s not on Metal Blade for his own label so that he can release it. He did that with the re-release of the Christ-Hunt album and the old songs he had he decided to release on his own label and then we’d stick with Metal Blade for the new songs, the real albums. We have a contract for four albums so it would have been a pity wasting one or two on old stuff. It was a conscious decision to have him release this stuff; it was good and beneficial for him."

On this CD there’s a video that is said to have been too extreme for some to show. Having seen it I can’t help wondering what it was that was too extreme about it?
    "It’s a very old one. In that time, that music culture, especially for TV it was way too extreme to air. Now you see much more extreme stuff because the hardcore scene has sort of become popular with the average kids and they have some gruesome stuff in their videos and I guess they are forced to play that stuff so a video of God Dethroned is no longer extreme. It could also be that some bits of it were cut out of it. I’m not sure how that went. I think it’s the uncensored version but I’m not too sure."

You picked Ravenous as the title of your new album. What does the title represent?
    "Ravenous being extreme and the music has gone a step further from the previous album in terms of speed and aggressiveness, we were looking for a title that would sort of represent it, and with Ravenous being one of the lyrics it’s short enough for a title and it represents what it is about, extreme and bloody.
    "The lyrics of the song Ravenous is a bout the film of the same name. I don’t think the album title was linked to the movie in any ways. I think Henry had already written the lyrics and after that we decided that the album was to be called Ravenous.

The titles of your songs are not the usual mindless gobble. Do you as a band collectively comes up with them or is it Henry that thinks of every title?
    "Usually it’s the person that writes the song that comes up with the title. In the case of my lyrics that wasn’t the case because they weren’t written for specific songs so I just gave all the lyrics to Henry and said use what you like to use. He came up with the title for The Crown For The Morbid and The Mysteries That Make You Bleed which are parts of the lyrics but wasn’t meant to be the title. As for the other lyrics I think Henry had some titles ready with no lyrics written and for some it was the other way round. There’s no perfect strategy to the use of titles. The “Villa Vampiria was an exception because I think he had the idea to use it for some time. He calls his house Villa Vampiria and he wanted to do a song with that title. We first thought of using that one for the title of the album too but we changed our minds. - We have a very short period of time where we write and rehearse the material and we’re very busy. We go into the studio with the basics and lyrics done and then we expand on it there. So some of the lyrics I only get to read once they’re done. It’s always a surprise to see what comes out of it."

Your album covers could be seen as controversial. So could the new one too. Is this something you consciously search for?
    "Not necessarily so. We have this American girl who does our drawings. We give her our ideas, the title and the lyrics and we let her do the work and then she sends us her work and we comment on it. “Bloody Blasphemy”, being the title of the previous one, she did a pretty good representation of what the song is about, of course with a couple of demons that aren’t in the song. That’s her version of it. For the new one she came up some sketches that was rather Carcass-like and we wanted to have an element of God in there. So we decided to ask her to put one of the demons from “Bloody Blasphemy” in there. From the beginning there was a woman on the ground but now it’s an angel so it has more of a concept thing now than it had before. But it’s not a conscious thing to make them controversial."

I can see why you did a cover of Death’s “Evil Dead” but what made you cover a song by an obscure Swedish band?
    "Usually with covers I think you can take a song and cover it but it really is no use unless you can give it a typical twist of your own band. Usually we stay of covers but Evil Dead is an exception because we played it at a benefit for Chuck. It worked well that we decided to do it in the studio to see how it’d turn out and it turned out great so decided to have it on the album. The Macabre End song. Henry had always been a fan of Macabre End and the really creepy atmosphere of that stuff and especially this song. He brought it with him one day and said that we could do it. It’s not a really hard song to do. Just to record it and see what comes out. So we did that and it actually fitted the album so we decided to do it on the album."