Interview to MORD (Poland)

1. The band is formed by 5 members. Which was your aims (ideologically and musically) in shaping the direction of Mord? Are you involved in any other way in the music scene?

Ad 1. We’ve known each other for much longer than Mord has existed on stage. We formed Mord about three weeks after the band Bestial split up, and everything happened pretty fast. Our direction is simple - Play death metal as best as we can, using all our skills.

At the moment, only our drummer Levy plays in another local band, Mad Dogs Riot. The rest of us are fully focused on Mord.

2. How do you feel when you look back into the past and the beginnings of the band 3 years ago? Do you feel that you have grown up as a band?

Ad 2. We’ve definitely made progress, but what you hear now is really an expanded version of our earlier work. Locally, we play concerts and we’re already known for our strong stage energy.

We spent about 1.5 years recording our album The Reflection of Brutality Is the Human Being. It took a lot of time, but it gave us full control over every sound you hear. The rest of our time as a band is spent rehearsing and writing new material.

3. Your death metal is intense and fast, what cause such a strong explosion of energy?

Ad 3. This is simply the energy we put into our music. Death metal is a perfect way for us to express this kind of explosion, as you called it. This music never feels boring to us, and we try to add our own patterns to it. We believe it’s still something special, even in a genre like death metal that has been played for over 40 years.

4. Have you read any reviews regarding your debut album “The Reflection of Brutality Is the Human Being”? Do you care about what critics have to say about your work?

Ad 4. It depends on the band member. Some of us take criticism as it is, without strong emotions, although some comments were a bit itchy.

People no longer see us as young guys just messing around with guitars and noise. Instead, they see us as a band with experience that plays death metal seriously.

For some people it’s stupid that we still play death metal, for others our music is too complicated, but most of the reviews have been very positive. One thing we know for sure – this is solid work.

5. Tell us about the recording sessions, how did it go? How was your first time in the studio? How long did it take you to finish everything?

Ad 5. We recorded the album ourselves. Over the years I’ve collected quite a lot of high-end gear, so you could say we have our own recording studio. Because of that, we had the time to do everything 100% our way.

Our music is demanding, so I won’t lie — we struggled a lot. Sometimes we had to re-record parts because we weren’t satisfied.

Mixing and mastering were done by Mariusz Konieczny, because we knew we could easily mess that up and ruin all the hard work. There were no excuses — only the final result mattered.

The whole process took about 1.5 years, from bringing the hardware into our rehearsal room to approving the final mix.

6. How do you work as a band? What’s the process you follow when composing an album? Do you work individually or as a team?

Ad 6. Always as a team! We bring ideas, sometimes record them at home, but the best work happens during rehearsals when all instruments are played together.

Vocals are usually done by me at home, because writing lyrics and fitting them into the songs requires focus. There’s always time to change things if something doesn’t fit well. We discuss everything and accept all ideas together, so it’s a process that takes time.

7. What does it mean for you as a musician to be where you are and how do you feel that shapes your art in the broadest sense?

Ad 7. This is our hobby. As musicians, we like to call ourselves professional amateurs — it’s not our day job, it’s a pure need.

We have a lot of fun working together in Mord, sometimes more, sometimes less, but we always put in the effort to keep pushing forward. We feel proud and happy about Mord.

8. I´ve noticed you are a very active band and had played several gigs and tours. Did your level of popularity increased quite a lot?

Ad 8. It’s still hard to say. We mostly play very local shows around Szczecin (north-western Poland). This year we’ll see if the death metal scene accepts us in more distant places as well.

Death metal is no longer popular in the mainstream sense of the word. We are deep underground.

9. What are the basic criteria by which you choose the places where you would like to play live? Is it about line-up in the case of festivals, the nature of the action, or even approach of the organizers?

Ad 9. Right now the situation in Poland is quite tough. Sometimes we have to collect money ourselves to organize shows. Some gigs are organized by friends from other bands, but we’re never sure if they will cover basic costs like the club, sound engineer, and transport.

As a “young” band, we don’t have many opportunities to choose where we play, so we play wherever we can. We still have to prove that we deserve to be invited to more serious events.

10. Have you ever had any weird incidents while traveling for concerts that you would like to share?

Ad 10. Not really. We have one band tradition: before every gig we go out to eat something and take a band photo with a random statue we pass along the way.

The weird part is that our drummer is usually sleeping at that time, so the photo includes the whole band — with a random statue replacing him, marked with his name.

11.Poland is known for having a quite developed commercial metal scene. Would you say it's rather something positive or negative concerning the influences it could have on the deep underground?

12. What is your opinion about the Polish death metal scene in general? Do you think the scene is more active than it was before?

Ad 11 & 12. Poland has exploded — and keeps exploding — with new bands. There are many great groups with strong skills and huge potential. Unfortunately, the audience is shrinking year by year, or people focus only on the biggest and oldest bands.

This isn’t new. Today there are tens of thousands of bands on streaming platforms, ready to be heard. People rarely buy an album and focus on it for a long time like they did before the streaming revolution.

The Polish scene is built by people like us — with loud and heavy hobbies — and it’s very active.

I’d also like to give a small shout-out to some bands we’ve shared the stage with: Supreme Void, Defus, Ashes, Godslut, Damnatorum, Blind Salvation.

13. What do you make of the status of Death Metal at present, has it changed a lot in your lifetime and do you prefer it now or what it used to be?

Ad 13. We are dinosaurs — but still alive. If we had to earn money by blasting, we’d probably have starved already. But we’re tough.

We still carry tube amps onto the stage, unlike many bands that play through modelers. It’s hard to say what’s better for death metal. The past is well known, the future is a mystery…

14. The death metal genre has been quite solid and consistent since the last three decades. How do you see the future of the genre going in the future?

Ad 14. I don’t see much of a future for music as we know it unless there is real hunger for this kind of expression. Otherwise, music will only be played at home on small speakers.

15. Being an independent band, I've always been curious, what do you all have to do in order to get a new album financed and a studio booked for recording time?

Ad 15. We work hard every day at our regular jobs to fund our hobby.

Each month we save small amounts of money, and over the year it adds up — just enough to cover our needs. No big philosophy here. We don’t play death metal for money, groupies, or Satan.

We’re in love with music, tube amps, microphones, and guitars, so we keep buying new toys to stay as independent as possible.

16. What kind of bands you are listening to nowadays? Can you give some names? On the other hand, there can be also new bands that you can recommend for our readers?

Ad 16. I mostly listen to Infernal War and Cannibal Corpse.

Levy mostly listens to Led Zeppelin, Dream Theater, and Tool.

Czes: Morbid Angel, Suffocation, Vader, Ulcerate, Gorgasm, Dying Fetus.

Hellsus loves Devourment, Napalm Death, Autopsy, and Dead Infection.

Impetigo listens to everything — from Halloween to the most brutal death metal bands.

17. Thank you! I want to give you the final word. Is there anything you want to share with our readers?

Ad 17. La banda de death metal Mord saluda a todos los metaleros de América Latina, con un saludo especial para los seguidores de GUTS’N’BLOOD RECORDS, el fanzine ROTTEN PAGES y ROTTEN RECORDS.

Aquí hace mucho frío, pero esperamos que vuestros oídos se mantengan calientes mientras escucháis nuestra música.

¡Saludos desde Polonia!

https://www.facebook.com/officialpageMorD