Interview with Bernie (guitar) - Godslave, March 2011

Could you please introduce the band to our readers?

Bernie: We are GODSLAVE from Germany, started around 2008 and till now we published our debut “ Bound by Chains”, the EP “Out of the Ashes” and two Split EP's. March 18^th we're going to release our new record “Into the Black” that you reviewed, by the way thanks for the cool review.

How would you describe the style you play?

Well, it's kind of a mixture of early 80's Glam Rock with 70's ProgRock influences, combined with modern Jazz and a slice of PostRock spiced with a little taste of Grindcore. Or simply put: THRASH METAL!

Your new album ‘Into the Black’ what does the band want to say with the title?

The title track is the last song on the CD and it's about getting dragged and nailed to the ground without being able to stand up again by your own fault. Less cryptically spoken: Digging your own grave! Knowingly but without the power to change anything about it, as your strings are pulled by an invisible force that you can't control and in the end, shortly before it is already too late, you realise that it is no one but yourself being responsible for all this. When you take a look the cover of the CD you see our friend “Horst” being attacked by this black mass after having killed hundreds of people with his bare hands, it is all coming back to him...

What makes this album better than ‘Bound by Chains’?

Let me think... EVERYTHING

“Bound by Chains” was a collection of very old songs that all came from the time when the band was called SLAVERY, it was a whole different band with a whole different style. Looking back you could argue why we put this one out but we worked on the stuff for a long time and we didn't wanted this to have been in vain. So, we released it. “Bound by Chains” isn't representable for GODSLAVE in 2011, “Into the Black” is! With full force. We are very happy about how everything turned out! It's the expected development from the first one over “Out of the Ashes” and now we kind of came to the conclusion and the best we did so far!

How did you get in contact with the guests that play along on the album?

Bene from MEKONG DELTA has been a friend of ours for several years now and we talked about a guest solo some time ago already, now it was time. For Mike, we played with DESTRUCTION in 2008 and got to know each other and became friends, so we asked Mike for the honour of a guest solo and he did it! Almost the same with Gerrit of SACRED STEEL, we played with them in 2009 and we had the idea of the title song and thought his voice would perfectly fit to our idea of a doomy song like “Where the sun sleeps” of the EP. Gladly he agreed to do it and I personally think it makes the song a totally unique piece of music.

Which bands are your biggest influences?

This is a hard one... talking about Thrash I would certainly point out the ones you would think of: DESTRUCTION, KREATOR, SODOM, EXODUS, MEGADETH etc. But there are some smaller ones like WITCHERY and WHIPLASH that influenced me a lot! Leading to your next question: new bands that started just a year or two ago influence me a lot, because you can see how they are developing right in front of your eyes, you know. How they're getting better with every tour, how the music evolves etc. That's very interesting and influential to follow.

What new thrash bands do you like?

At the moment for me personally there's no band better than HAVOK!!! Their new record “Time is up” will kill EVERYTHING and EVERYONE! Believe me! And a band that has to be mentioned are MUTANT from England, they did an EP that ripped my ass open, great band!! Furthermore for me personally WARBRINGER and EVILE are the kings of the new wave (GAMA BOMB included). We already had the pleasure to support them and they are all very nice guys and they are living the dream, so all horns up to the boys!!

What is your goal with the band? Just a nice (expensive) hobby or……

Haha, you got it! But I can't name it a hobby because it isn't. A hobby is something that you do in your spare time and you don't do it when you're too lazy to. The band is different, ALL OF MY HEART and PASSION is in this, I live for the music, always lived for it and it will never ever stop! This is more than a hobby, it is your passion, it's your life!! I don't want to degrade it by calling it a hobby, it is so much more... Although you might no be able to earn your daily bread with it, but if we COULD, we would do nothing else any more, that is for sure.

How are the first reactions on the album?

So far the reactions are pretty overwhelming. On the one side, ROCK HARD Magazine gave us an amazing 8,5 of 10 and that's the opinion of all reviews we got so far, that's really awesome! On the other hand, what makes us very very happy: the fans like it! They love it so far and that fills our hearts with joy because it was hell of a lot of work, I can tell ya. This record tore us apart, it was very tough but we made it and are happy that the fans like it! Thanks for all the support, your all rule!!

Will the band play a lot live in 2011?

Playing live is the reason why we do all this. Till now there are not much gigs on our list but we are working hard on it! So if anyone in Denmark wants us, WE WILL COME!! Would love to play with ARTILLERY hehe. BOOK US!!

What are in your opinion the 5 best metal albums released in 2010?

You're killing me with this question haha. That's so damn hard. Well for sure, OVERKILL – Ironbound, DEATH ANGEL – Relentless Retribution and ENFORCER – Diamonds have to be in there!! And I have to add the release of GHOST in as well, although I didn't like it right from the start, it needed some sessions.

So, one left, let me think...

Yeah ok, HEATHEN – The Evolution of Chaos is the fifth one.

Anything else you want to share with our readers?

Boys and girls, thank you all for the support!! Keep spreading the word for GODSLAVE!! Please visit our Youtube channel with a new video to the new song “Uncut, Unseen, Unrated” it came out great! www.youtube.com/user/godslavebernie And please support us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/godslaveband

Thank you all very much and never forget: Thrash that thrash that doesn't thrash!!! 

Interviewed by Reinier de Vries