Interview with Atrocity

 INTERVIEW WITH ALEX KRULL VOCALIST FOR ATROCITY DONE BY PATRICK FOR NO BULLSHIT ZINE....

1.HELLO ALEXANDER HOWS IT GOING TODAY? PLEASE TELL THE READERS A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF?

Thanx I'm fine. In the moment we are on tour with ATROCITY and LEAVES EYES. Yesterday we played in Rome and now we are on our way to Barcelona. Well I'm the leadsinger of ATROCITY and I do this job for a while haha...since last year we do also our second band LEAVES' with my wife LIV KRISTINE (ex Theatre of Tragedy). I'm also working as producer at our own MASTERSOUND STUDIO. Beside that I'm manger of the bands and the band ELIS and I work as talent scout for ROADRUNNER RECORDS, too.

2.ATROCITY HAS BEEN A PART OF THE "SCENE" FOR ALMOST TWO DECADES. WHAT IS IT THAT KEEPS YOU GUYS MOTIVATED AFTER ALL THESE YEARS?

When we formed the band around 1985 we already wanted to form a band which can move something in the Metal scene. ATROCITY is a band which has been always looking for new and extreme horizons in Metal music and even dared to do things other Metal bands wouldn't dare like our cooperations with the Gothic acts DAS ICH, LACRIMOSA, SILKE BISCHOFF or female vocalists like my wife LIV KRISTINE and my sister YASMIN which start ten years ago. The music of the band is not something we just like to do, it is our life and lifestyle, our air we breathe, our deepest passion and expression. I spent more than the half of my life for this band and I'm more hungry than ever!

3.YOUR NEWEST RELEASE ATLANTIS IS A MASTERPIECE OF BRUTALITY AND MELODY.HOW LONG DID IT TAKE TO WRITE THE ALBUM? WHO CAME UP WITH THE CONCEPT FOR THE CD?

First of all, thank you very much! When our second guitarplayer Tosso returned to the band after he was out for about 1 1/2 years we decided to kick out basically all material which we composed in the meantime together with another guy. From the start I wanted to do a concept album like we did with BLUT, the vampyric album, in 1994. I thought it was time to make my old idea of a concept album about the old myth of ATLANTIS. When I suggested to the others to do a concept album for Atlantis this time, everybody was enthusiastic about the idea! I read and studied alot about the old legend. So I was writing down a concept and we composed the music around the concept. Some of the lyrics I wrote at the Atlantic shores in Ireland sorrounded by tombstones of the old Megalith culture which is mentioned very often in connected with Atlantis. The album itself starts with the legends around Atlantis and the description of the lost empire followed by the Greek mythology of gods which is an important part of the story of Atlantis, too. We show the whole story of the Atlantean Empire, the rise and the fall and finally the doom. With different point of views and atmospheric elements the music takes you into the antediluvian world. We spent about one (very intense) year to complete the ATLANTIS opus.

4. I BELIEVE YOU GUYS ARE TOURING EUROPE SOON. WHO WILL YOU BE TOURING WITH? ANY PLANS TO TOUR THE U.S ?

We are now in the middle of the second part of our "Atlantis Lovelorn" Tour with ATROCITY and LEAVES' EYES. Our support bands are Battlelore from Finnland, Elis from Liechtenstein/Switzerland and Darkwell from Austria. After a little break we are going to play the third part of the "Atlantis Lovelorn" tour with ATROCITY and LEAVES' EYES in South and Central America tour around February/March 2005. There are plans to do some shows in the US and Canada afterwards!

5.IF YOU COULD SET UP A DREAM TOUR WITH ANY BANDS PAST OR PRESENT. WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO TOUR WITH?

ATROCITY, LAIBACH, DIAMANDA GALAS and as headliners CELTIC FROST or SLAYER...would be cool.

IN YOUR OPINION WHAT ARE THE BEST AND WORST THINGS ABOUT THE UNDERGROUND TODAY? HOW DO YOU FEEL IT'S CHANGED SINCE YOU FIRST BECAME A PART OF THE SCENE?

I remember very well how the times were in the underground in the Past when many bands and Underground mags were in contact with each other. For example I did the first SUPPORT THE UNDERGROUND festivals in Germany and other countries with bands like Pestilence, Carcass, Entombed, Pungent Stench and Atrocity. It's always the matter of taste if people like music or not, and of course fans can get very fanatic if it comes to their favorite kind of music or band, but I have the feeling that through the years more and more jealousy and bad emotions came into the scene. Some people love to complain, telling bullshit around and some don't even know words like respect - just look into the internet on some forums. I think people should wake up and learn to communicate. For me Heavy Metal is freedom, freedom of arts and not a narrow minded world. Besides that I think it's great that the underground is still alive!

7.BESIDES ATROCITY THE BAND IS ALSO WORKING WITH THE MELODIC METAL BAND LEAVES EYES.HOW IS THIS BAND DIFFERENT FROM ATROCITY?

We have a clear line between the music of the two bands: ATROCITY is more like a wild and furious tornado and LEAVES' EYES is more like a mystic autumn wind with the angel like voice of Liv! Even if we have also atmospheric and more quiet parts in ATROCITY, too, both bands are musically very different from each other.

8. DO YOU OR THE OTHER MEMBERS FIND IT DIFFICULT TO PLAY IN TWO DIFFERENT BANDS WITH COMPLETLY DIFFERENT STYLES? ARE THE MEMBERS WORKING ON ANY OTHER PROJECTS AT THE MOMENT?

No, it's not a problem for us because we know exactly what we like to do for each of the two bands. In our Mastersound Studio we have also the possibility to be very creative and exchanging ideas with each other in a very good way. Liv has just signed a deal with ROADRUNNER RECORDS for her solo career. Chris is planning a solo project, too.

9.WHEN NOT WORKING ON BAND RELEATED STUFF WHAT DO YOU ENJOY DOING IN YOUR SPARE-TIME? ANY HOBBIES?

I have a lot of work with the two bands ATROCITY and LEAVES' EYES and of course with the work as producer at MASTERSOUND STUDIO - it's like a 7 days job in a week! I have not so much free time in the moment, ha ha. Liv and me have a son called Leon Alexander and I love to spend my freetime with him -- we preparing him to become a real metal head ha,ha! I like to go out into nature - Liv and me live near the forest - and I enjoy to go out to the legendary Rockfabrik Ludwigsburg, Germany's first Metal club where we practiced in the old days! Oh I forgot I like some ego shooters on PC...I wish I would have more time.

10. WELL ALEX I HAVE RUN OUT OF QUESTIONS THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME OUT OF YOUR BUSY SCHEDULE TO FILL THIS OUT. DO YOU HAVE ANY FINAL COMMENTS FOR THE READERS??

I hope the American fans enjoy the ATLANTIS album and hopefully we see us on tour next year!!! Cheerz

Alex Krull / ATROCITY
nathan@napalmrecords.com