Hanna Tsepesh: Moro Miika! Welcome to THE GATES OF METAL and thanks so much for accepting this invitation! First questions I would like that you tell us about DEUTERONOMIUM history for the people who don’t know your band yet! Is it true that DEUTERONOMIUM has been a pioneer for the Christian metal music in Finland?
Miika: Hi Hanna. It is my pleasure to be interviewed byTHE GATES OF METAL!
You know, we’ve been around since 1993, so it would be impossible to give you detailed history
of the band but DEUTERONOMIUM history in a nutcase would be something like this: DEUTERONOMIUM is a 4-piece thrashy-death metal combo from Finland. The journey began in 1993 and present line-up has played together since 1997. The band has released
three full length album; Street Corner Queen (1998), Here To Stay (1999) and From The Midst Of The Battle (2008). For detailed biography visit: http://www.deuteronomium.net/biography.htm
You are right, DEUTERONOMIUM has been part of Chrstian metal genre here in Finland since the beginning so I guess you could call us pioneers of the scene among IMMORTAL SOULS and others.
Hanna Tsepesh: Your inspirations to create the lyrics are more about Christianity, right? Why have you choose this kind of theme for the lyrics?
Miika: Yeah, I’m not sure if we decided to choose Christian themes or not, they propably came along pretty naturally at that time. Many of the bands we were looking up to had the same kind of themes and we just kinda followed them... Of course it is also important to share our views with the audience. Nowadays openly Christian lyrics are a big part of the bands identity and there is no way to choose any other lyrical path to follow.
Hanna Tsepesh: I don’t know if I am right on this but, the band name (Deuteronomium) is from a page entitled "Deuteronomium" of Martin Luther's Bible, dated 1545 (I think) and was the first complete Bible printed in Germany! It was from there that born the band name? Any special reason for the name?
Miika: Well, I think the most important reason to choose the name was, it was long, it looked cool and it was impossible to pronounce! So it is perfect name for a metal band, don’t you think?
Hanna Tsepesh: Yes is a great idea! What are your favorite bands?
Miika: I have couple of long time favorites like Entombed, Napalm Death and Mortification,
and also been a big fan of Motörhead and Ramones for ages! I dig all kind of music but especially old-school death metal and punk rock.
Hanna Tsepesh: When did you start to play guitar? Any musician inspired you to choose this instrument?
Miika: I was about 13 when I first time picked up a guitar and I was immediately hooked! From the very first moment I knew that I wanna be a rocker! Actually my first love was drums, but somehow I ended up to be a guitar player, I still play drums every now and then and it is a lots of fun even though I suck big time!
Hanna Tsepesh: (laughs)! about singing, do you have singing lessons or something like that? I take this opportunity to congratulate you for your great work!
Miika: Thanks! Actually, I have had some singing lessons in the past, but I think the most important thing is the hard work!
Hanna Tsepesh: About your new album “From The Midst Of The Battle”, this album is brutal!! I liked a lot the riffs, voices and a LOT the lyrics! You have here an AMAZING work that you must be proud of it! I really recommend this album for our readers that like death metal! But tell me Miika, for the people who haven’t listen your album yet can you tell to them what they will found in “From The Midst Of The Battle” and what the band want to accomplish with it?
Miika: Great to hear you like it! We are really proud of and satisfied with it in every way. The album is a journey through the fields of physical and spiritual battle. It was a sort of coincident that it turned out to be a theme album. That wasn’t planned but we are happy that it ended up that way. Musicwise you will find death metal with a lots of influences from thrash, rock and even some classical stuff. The title track is epic 17-minute long trilogic story of General Kyrios who fought the fight and in the end he won the war! Actually that song has been written in 1996 or so and we just re-arranged it and composed some new parts. The reason we desided to records was that we wanted to have some direct link to our roots and we managed pretty well, I think.
Hanna Tsepesh: When DEUTERONOMIUM enter in studio did you have all the lyrics and music’s done? It was an easy process for the band?
Miika: Yes, we had everything ready and well rehearsed. The studio itself was quit easy job to do but the process was hard and winding road. It took 1,5 year to write and rehearse the stuff. At first we made complete demos with computer, then we demo-recorded all the song in the studio and after that we had couple of meetings with our producer Mikko Harkin and then we started the final rehearsing sessions. But it was worth of it since when we entered the studio everybody knew what to do. The recording session took about only 2,5 weeks, but we were well prepared and that time was absolutely enough.
Hanna Tsepesh: Who was the person that made a cool work with your cover album? It was from him that came the idea for the cover? Can you talk a little about the process?
Miika: Manu, the bass player, is the man behind the cover art. I cannot tell much about the process but the idea for the symbol came out when we were discussing that it would cool and important as a band to have simple and well noticed symbol. So we decided to have one with a lots of different meanings and with a
little bit of mystic.
Hanna Tsepesh: How is the response so far to this album by the media and fans?
Miika: Response has been unbelievable. We had a great feeling and we were confident that the album is great but we never expected to get so great reviews! Most of them have been overwhelmingly praising, and fans have also been very, very satisfied with the album. And that makes us more than happy!!
Hanna Tsepesh: That’s great! About concerts, do you guys are thinking about an EUROPEAN TOUR? Can you tell us dates/places for our readers to know? There’s any plan for a concert at Portugal?
Miika: Actually, we just were touring around Europe... We visited Denmark, Germany, France, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Belgium and Holland. It was a huge success for us and we are planning to hit the road again any time soon but I guess not before autumn 2009. It would be REALLY great to visit Portugal too, hopefully soon! So concert bookers over there, get in touch with us!
In Finland we will play some great festival this year, like Sauna Open Air which is huge party with headliners like Motley Crue and Nightwish. We are really looking forward that, as you can
imagine. We don’t get that often to share the stage with superstars, so it will be a blast!
Hanna Tsepesh: Yes I can imagine! Good luck on that! You guys are thinking to record another album? What are your future plans to DEUTERONOMIUM?
Miika: Yeah, for sure. There will be new EP, vinyl only, coming out 18.4.2009, including 3 brand new songs and 1 cover song of THE BETRAYAL, legendary U.S. thrashers from the ‘90’s.
We are also in process of writing new material, so the new album is on it’s way too!
Future plans in general are pretty simple: to release some great albums and play all around the world as much as possible!
Hanna Tsepesh: Do you want to send any message for your fans out there?
Miika: Thanks for supporting DEUTERONOMIUM! Hope to see you all at show someday!
Support your local scene and keep underground alive!
Hanna Tsepesh: Thanks so much for your answers and time! THE GATES OF METAL wishes a fantastic success with this amazing album and we hope to see you guys at Portugal for a brutal show…
Miika: Thanks a lot Hanna. It has been great to get to know you. Keep up the great work!
Hanna Tsepesh: Thank so much Miika!
By: Hanna Tsepesh
To listen more DEUTERONOMIUM music’s and for future information’s go at:
www.myspace.com/deuteronomium
www.deuteronomium.net
