Bloodphemy was created in 2000 and is based in Amersfoort, Netherlands. In 2002 they released the album “Section 8”. Shortly after they disbanded, only to be revived in 2015. Since then they released the EP “Blood Will Tell” (2016) and the albums “Bloodline” (2017) and “In Cold Blood” (2019).
The band is also known for being an unrelenting live force, with appearances registered in stages across Germany, Luxemburg, Czech Republic, Austria, Croatia, Poland, Slovakia, and The Netherlands and festivals such as Czech Death Fest, Fuck The Commerce, Headbangers Bash, Kaltenbach Open Air, etc.
On September 3rd, 2021 they released the album “Blood Sacrifice” It was my pleasure to interview the band in specific to the release, Let’s hear from the band.
Greetings from Metalheads Forever Magazine, I’m Keith Clement the editorial head, how are you guys doing?
Hi Keith, all ok?
We are doing great, thanx man. We are about to release our new album Blood Sacrifice via Emanzipation Productions and we are of course curious for the reactions. Besides that we can finally perform live again and so we are excited to do the release show on Nice to Eat You Deathfest in the Czech Republic.
Your fourth Studio album “Blood Sacrifice” is set to be released on September 3rd, can you tell me a bit of the songwriting and production behind the album?
During the release period of In Cold Blood we already started writing for this album. Our former and original guitarist Winfred wrote almost all the material for Bloodphemy through the years. In that time we were a four piece with session guitarists for the live shows but we felt we had to be a 5 piece band again. At the end of 2019 we recruted Arjan (ex Funeral Whore, Codex Mortis) as a second guitarist so we could focus on the writing proces again. A few months later Winfred decided to leave Bloodphemy because he couldn’t combine this anymore with his new job. In the meantime we already had to book the studio so there was quit some pressure. With that in mind I thought we need again someone with quite some experience and so I called Bart (ex Sinister, Neocaesar) to fulfill this job.
Luckily Winfred had already written 6 songs for the album which we re- arranged with this new line up. Arjan and Bart both wrote 4 songs extra to complete the album and a few months later we entered the Soundlodge Studio, right on time. The mix and mastering was also done in the Soundlodge Studio. And we had some cool guest appearances on this album by Rutger (Pestilence), Marc (ex Morgoth, Insidious Disease) and Rob (Phlebotomized).
We actually don’t write our new songs in the practice room, there is always a guitarist who comes up with a complete song and we decide if it is good enough to work on. Altogether it was again a very hectic period but we did manage it.
The Cover art is one cool thing you put up especially a perfect fit for a death metal album, can you tell me a bit on the cover art?
For the In Cold Blood album we worked together with Bahrull Marta for the first time. I knew him from my former band KhaoZ for which he made some great cover artwork.
Before the release of the album Bloodline we replaced our bass player Wicliff who was also responsible for the artwork of Bloodphemy so we had to find someone else in a short time. Bahrull had made already some cool artwork so we decided to choose one of those.
For Blood Sacrifice, which is a concept album, we suggested to do it different this time. We explained the concept and only choose some colors which we wanted on the cover. So we gave him free hand to paint our cover and it turned out awesome! He did a great job on this one!
What has been the concept that was set behind this album?
Our former lyrics on all our albums describe a form of mental illness. This time our vocalist Olivier came up with the idea to describe this for one person and spread it over all the lyrics for the new album.
The concept is this:
During the 1800’s in a rural area of the US a priest leads the congregation of a small village. He is obsessed by the sins of the people around him. He is convinced he has direct conversations with god and this drives him to see the actions of his own family as sinful. In visions he sees the destruction of heaven and the victory of the forces of hell as he lets the sinning go on. With this in mind he decides to end the sins by killing his own family. In the end he ends up in an insane asylum surrounded by only sinners and driven completely mad.
The Intro “Last Cry of Humanity” with the bell tolls gave a perfect start and each song is so powerful, hardcore death metal into each of them, how do you feel about the outcome of the album?
We are very satisfied about how everything turned out. There are always things which could go better the next time, but again we had little time because of the guitarists change and Covid for example. Everything fits together, the whole idea, the songs, the sound, the pictures and the artwork. To get the track list done was also quite a challenge because you have to tell this story with the right track on the right spot. It is not usual for a death metal band to create something like this but I think we can look back at this as passed.
We already were familiar with the Soundlodge Studio through our former albums so we were very sure that it would sound great.
This is your first with Emanzipation Productions, how do you feel to work with them?
This feels very good. Emanzipation Productions is nowadays more the death metal department from Mighty Music/Target Group. Known from years ago and is now a very professional label with a good team behind it. Our former label Black Lion records did a very good job for us with the In Cold Blood album but in the end we felt it was more a melodic death/black metal label. Emanzipation is a pure death metal label and that is what we are. We are a low tuned death metal band with a very low death grunt trying to find and add some new and fresh elements into this music style.
21 years of making music and one of the great Death Metal band from The Netherlands, how do you feel where you are now and how has the road been for you?
Actually Bloodphemy excisted a few years in the beginning of 2000. It started as a project from Wicliff (Beyond Belief), Johan rip (Desultory), Winfred ( Alterizer, ex Pleurisy) and me ( Pleurisy).After a (demo) album, a few shows and line-up changes we parted ways in 2002.
After a good drinking session with my buddy Wicliff at the end of 2014 we decided to start up Bloodphemy again but only with Winfred on guitars. We contacted him and after all those years he was immediately interested. We booked a rehearsal room and wrote new songs. We re- recorded an old song Blood For Me and sent it out. After that we signed at Sleaszy Rider records for the ep Blood Will Tell and the Bloodline album. We did quite some shows in and outside the Netherlands and were picked up by Black Lion records after that for the In Cold Blood album. Because of our jobs and families we are not able to do long tours so we love to be on the road on the weekends and do some cool shows and festivals. We released 1 ep and 3 albums in 6 years so we are satisfied with our position right now.
What would be some of the next touring plans and other plans for the release of Blood Sacrifice?
Well hopefully all restrictions will be released everywhere and so we can play live again. We have some cool shows planned in the Czech rep and Holland for this year and together with Redback Promotion we are looking for shows in 2022. In november we will shoot a video for the song Revelation. And besides promoting the album live in 2022 we will also start writing for the next album.
What has been some of the great moments that you had over the years?
We did alot of cool shows over the last years and the last cool thing was a small tour with our friends from Tortharry and Hypnos in Poland which was great. A few months after that we got that covid thing. So until now we did not do 1 normal show in this new line up.
And it is always great to have your latest release in your hands after working on that together.
What are some of the future musical experimentations that you would be interested in pursuing?
I think that would be working on new material with this ‘new’ line up. We have only worked on this Blood Sacrifice album and on a new setlist so it is about time to discover which way we will go on with those 2 new guitarists. For Blood Sacrifice we have worked with Rob from Phlebotomized to bring in some keys and samples in our sound which was very satisfying. So we are always open to new influences.
Finally what would be the message for the fans around the world?
Buy our album of course!! Hahaha. I do hope all will be back to normal soon and so we can visit shows again. We all have been waiting for so long so it is time to bang and mosh again. Cheerz.
“Blood Sacrifice” tracklist
1. Last Cry For Humanity
2. House Of Souls
3. Pledge Of Allegiance
4. Sin
5. Flock Of Lambs
6. Revelation
7. Conviction
8. Bloodborne
9. In Cold Blood
10. Righteous Solitude
11. Derogated Salvation
Line up:
Olivier van der Kruijf: vocals
Bart van Wallenberg: guitars
Arjan van Dune: guitars
Robin Zwiep: bass
Edwin Nederkoorn: drums
Webshop:
https://targetshop.dk/bloodphemy
