INVERTED

INVERTED a name that strikes terror into the hearts of the trendy Death Metal community. Here are a few short words with INVERTED's drum pounder, Kristian, by Lunatic in June 1998, Just after the release of their latest album "There Can Be Only One...". Wicked Scriptures pays tribute to Sweden's Death Metal God's...

CRUSADER: Please give us some background on the band.

KRISTIAN: We started out in Feb 1991.. until now we have done 2 demos (Tales of Estaban 1991) and (Heaven defied 1992) 2 EP's (Empire of darkness 1994) (Diabolical ceremonies 1996) * split EP with Centinex.. 1 MCD (Revocation of the beast 1993) and 2 albums (The shadowland 1995) and (There can be only one... 1998)..

Through the years we have had quiet a lot of member changes. The current line-up is: Johan Ohlsson-Guitar Stefan Lundgren-Voice Joel Andersson-Bass Kristian Hasselhuhn - Drums (I am the only original member left...)

CRUSADER: What's it like living in Sweden? It seems like most of the new good bands are coming from Sweden as well as hundreds of old bands. What's the Metal scene like there?

KRISTIAN: Well, the metal scene as far as bands concern is very good we have an incredible amount of both known and unknown metal bands...The gig situation however is pretty bad although... A lot of the people that are into metal over here also plays in a band or more and that's perhaps one of the main reasons for the lack of people attending the shows... Still it seems that it's starting to get a little better with live shows as well..

Apart from metal, just living in Sweden is not much different from living anywhere else I suppose..

CRUSADER: You are often referred to as Sweden's most anti-christian Death Metal band. Why did you pursue this direction?

KRISTIAN: Honestly I do not know why.. It's just the way it is...Perhaps because that we have never changed our approach or direction when it comes to lyrics and music... We take inspiration from anything that is dark and offending simply because this is what death metal is all about. Nothing more nothing less...+ that the money greeding religious groups have a pretty big attending in our hometown and in Sweden in general.

CRUSADER: Were you as influenced by ENTOMBED as most of your countrymen were?

KRISTIAN: Perhaps a little from the first Entombed album (who where not? But we never wanted to sound like them and we never have... We found inspiration in other acts mostly American death metal bands and black/death metal underground bands around the globe.. We just wanted to play the music we love and live for...

CRUSADER: Who writes your lyrics and where does your inspiration come from? Explain your song writing process.

KRISTIAN: Nowadays everybody in the band writes lyrics but earlier it was mainly me who wrote. I got my inspiration from a lot of different things.. Books, Movies, My own thoughts and a lot of other things...When it comes to lyrics you do not just sit down thinking.. "Now I should write something really dark and brutal" ideas can pop up anytime and then you write down some words to remember it and work from that when you've got the time.

CRUSADER: What does your album title "There can be only one..." refer to?

KRISTIAN: It takes a little to long to explain here. But basically it's up to the listener to refer to them selves....It's up to each and everyone....There can be only one... of each person and one of each persons thought and feelings......kind of music Death Metal...you name it..

CRUSADER: Tell us more about the track "Metal Victory".

KRISTIAN: Well, it is a song about how we feel and how we live our lives. Metal victory is what it's all about really. Times changes, people changes, trend changes but in the end metal will prevail!! The ones who stand for metal are never alone and metal will never die for the true ones.....It is also a kick in the ass for all bands that have wimped out and/or persons that once claimed to be metal but ain't it today.

CRUSADER: How do you feel about originality? Is it necessary for every new band to play a new type of music? How do you feel about bands who change their style dramatically due to their "growth as musicians" to a music type that strangely enough "just happens to be in fashion at the moment" and so consequently makes them a shitload of money, "While still maintaining their artistic integrity". (Can I possibly get more sarcastic?)

KRISTIAN: Well, you have almost already told the answer yourself. It's up to each band to do what they want but honestly if it ain't dark/brutal I simply do not listen to it anymore.... It really sucks I think when bands that once were true metal warriors turns into something else still using their old name...In the end you'll win a lot more on staying true to your own music and not just jump on the next bandwagon. There are a lot of examples of bands that simply turned totally different and in the end they turn back to their roots when they discover that "hey we lost almost all our fans" just because the trend died. as they say "easy come easy go". Well, enough about this..

CRUSADER: Tell me about the cover art for your new CD "There can be only one...", the album artwork on all your releases seems to be more in the realms of fantasy than what is usually used for Death Metal, why is this so?

KRISTIAN: We use a person named Peter Gustavsson for our cover arts mainly because he is very good and also a good friend of ours...We usually just give him a title or two from the forthcoming release and he have free hands to paint what he imagine from those titles...So I'll guess we have to ask him.

CRUSADER: How is your relationship with Shiver Recordings (Belgium), and why did you choose to sign with a label in Belgium?

KRISTIAN: We got a few offers back then (1994) and he came up with the best proposal at that time..+ that we had already known him through the underground movement for several years.. So we decided to sign with them.. we have 1 album left to record on Shiver records and then we'll see what happens...

CRUSADER: Do you play live and if so how often? How do you feel about so many bands these days that don't ever play live?

KRISTIAN: We play live as often as we get the opportunity. Playing live is the ultimate experience and your payment for all thousands of Hours spent in the rehearsal room. Personally I can't understand the bands that refuse to play live. I think you need it to have the band going for along time... Just rehearse/record/rehearse/record in endless times?? Must be very hard to get inspiration to continue at least it should have been for us.. But I guess the bands that not play live have their reasons too..

CRUSADER: Have you got a message for the readers of The Crusader?

KRISTIAN: First of all eternal Hail to the Dark Crusader staff. You guys rule!!! To all Metalheads around the globe do not hesitate to contact us. Make sure if possible to include 2IRC or 1US$ for sure reply. Check out our new album!! If you can't find in your local shop order it directly from us for 18US$.. More merchandise is available. write for info.

Inverted C/O Krille Hasselhuhn Hantverksgat. 9 C 441 32 Alingsås SWEDEN

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