(Here we present Zoltar’s interview with the ever-busy Håkan Stuvemark, the focus being on his death metal band Consumption, whose latest album Catharsis was released in January by Dusktone.)
Hard to say when the disease started spreading but most extreme metal historians (if there’s such a thing) would probably agree that General Surgery, Dead Infection, and/or Pathologist were the first ‘official’ Carcass clones, as early as 1988. And it somehow never stopped since then: Haemorrhage, Necrony, Golem, early Exhumed, Butcher ABC, etc. The list goes on and on and never ceased to grow. Yet, from time to time and despite the heavy competition, somebody decides to pick up the gauntlet and run with it, reaching for the extra yard, today’s case pick being Consumption.
Just like the ‘fake’ band The County Medical Examiners vowed in the ’00s to record the sequel to Symphonies Of Sickness but never got the time nor the will to record, Håkan Stuvemark from Wombbath decided instead to raid that even better guarded citadel known as Necroticism. And it looks like he’s having a blast doing so, as although he’s got his fingers in so many pies at the same time, he still did find the time to record three albums of pure Necroticism-worship over the course of five albums, the latest being the just-released Catharsis on Dusktone.
Yet based on what he’s telling us, there is more here to be found than ‘just’ extremely well-made fanart.
Before getting to the bottom of this, let’s play the devil’s advocate and ask the one question that matters: Does the world really need another Carcass clone, over thirty decades after Necroticism was released?
Can’t be too much of Carcass, right!? Well, of course it can be, but still….. I can’t personally say how much of a clone Consumption is, I leave that to others who hear everything in a different way than me. But I’m 100% aware of how much Carcass it sounds like here and there. I’m not ashamed though, but rather proud!
When Necroticism, a remarkably intelligent album, was released and I heard it, it was ‘love at first sight’. That production, guitar tone, riffs and solos. Still on my favorite top 5 as it’s perfect from start to finish. From that day, it has inspired me and it can be heard here and there on stuff from the early ’90s even it was only some riff or a few notes. From then till 2020, when I went further with the idea, I’ve had some time to write a song inspired by that album and Finland’s Disgrace Inside The Labyrinth Of Depression demo which suddenly was a whole album that had more Carcass vibe.
This being said, I realized when writing Necrotic Lust and Catharsis that the sound invites one to expand it melodically in various ways or maybe like Swansong, but there’s still that red line through it which works for going back or forward in any direction and still have it! I must admit early Arch Enemy has been an inspiration too, which isn’t strange at all. The first Arch Enemy album would have been the perfect follow-up to the Heartwork album in my opinion!
Back to your question, the short answer is absolutely!
It is now a well-known fact that Arch Enemy’s first album was mostly made of riffs Michael Amott originally wrote for Carcass but kept for himself in the end, so… But why use Necroticism as a template instead of, say, Symphonies Of Sickness? Or their extremely noise debut Reek Of Putrefaction?
I actually kinda knew that, so yeah, that first Arch Enemy is a banger. I remember when I had In Thy Dreams (Håkan’s more Gothenburg-style melodeath band in between 1995 and 2000) our drummer Stefan brought a tape to the rehearsal, I think it was Wez from Wrong Again records who had sent it to him. Or was it a CD? Can’t remember…. Anyway, he played it on the boom box we had at the rehearsal and we were blown away.
Fun anecdote: when with In Thy Dreams we sent our 1996 demo to Wez, and it looks like Michael was hanging out with him so he listened to it too and really liked it. Hence why he recommended us to his brother Christopher when the latter said he needed a vocalist for his project Armageddon, who had just scored a deal with Wrong Again for their debut. So Jonas [Nyrén] took the train down south, tracked the vocals in a snap, and went back home.
Back to why Necroticism and not the other albums: somehow, neither Reek nor Symphonies have ever interested me that much besides being fragments, if you see what I mean, especially Reek. I’m not saying those albums are bad, it’s just that Necroticism to me is when Carcass peaked musically and with an even quality from start to finish. It’s not a template I chose, it just… happened. And I love to play that style and scales.
But where do you draw the line in between expanding on a sonic universe built by others and pure copy?
Determining that what you’ve created is a copy or very influenced by a certain band depends on the listener. I’ve read this and that about Consumption sounding like Carcass, like old-school death metal with haunting melodies, or like Bloodbath, Dark Tranquillity, or death metal with Carcass vibes yet with its own unique touch. Some also believe it’s got the (in)famous HM-2 pedal effect so typical of Swedish death metal… So, it’s quite individual. If someone want to say it’s a copy, I take it as a compliment: code cracked haha. I’m not analytical when I’m writing the riffs though I know some of them need a certain sound. I’m basically just playing!
But when did it turn into ‘hey, this could be an idea’ into an actual band with albums and so on?
Those thoughts and feelings started a bit in 2021, when all parts were coming together on the Necrotic Lust material. After its release in 2022, that feeling grew stronger since I really felt how solid that album was. But it didn’t develop more than just being an idea then. Like everyone else, there’s the daily life with this and that to deal with. With Catharsis that feeling is stronger. I said about Necrotic Lust and am saying it again: it’s my personal best, and I can say that since I’ve written everything except Ludvig Johansson’s kung fu solos, though I’m too doing some on Catharsis. So, we’ll see what happens about getting it all together and playing live. That would be awesome!
But one could have said that once you had done the first album, Consumption had served its purpose in a way. So why come back to it?
Absolutely, but sometimes there’s more to give and having that driving force to write. I had half of Necrotic Lust written even before the first album was released, so about one album and a half written in, what, four or five months. This style invites to develop and expand. Could be more grinding and fury straight off but I’ve got a weak spot for melodies and rather not of the happy kind.
If you’re having ideas and inspiration and do nothing with it, it’s a waste, it doesn’t matter if it’s one or ten albums or if it’s good or crap or pop or metal. Create it for your own sake, it’s about you first of all. I never set a goal that an album must be made at specific time and with a specific sound. It just happens and one never knows when the force strikes. Now with Catharsis there are three strong albums so I don’t feel a rush to write anything new in the nearest future. I’ve slowed down a bit and also have other releases to finish that have been on the table for a while now.
Did you go as far as sticking to the whole early pathological vibe of the lyrics too, with specific, real medical terms and many play-on-words?
First of all, I gotta be honest that I haven’t read the lyrics since 2022 when I tracked the vocals and that went fast. I don’t remember much but it’s not the old typical Carcass lyrics but I guess it’s there though. I didn’t do the lyrics yet asked friends to take care of them. On the second album, Per Albinsson wrote half of the lyrics, the rest being handled by my friend Rogga Johansson from Paganizer and Jonny Pettersson from Wombbath. For Catharsis, it is once again Albinsson on most of them, although Peter Svensson from Void Moon and Furnace did three as well.
How important was it to get Jeff Walker himself to guest on a track off Necrotic Lust? Did you need somehow that seal of approval?
At the time it was more like it’d be cool having him singing some on the album since Carcass is the main ingredient in this soup. I didn’t know how to contact him, looked here and there, asked around, and that I did for quite some time, he wasn’t to be found anywhere. It had become pretty important then. I had this song ‘Ground Into Ash and Coal’ I knew would be perfect for having his vocals on. Eventually, I asked my bandmate Matt in Wombbath if he knew how to reach him and he recalled he used a nickname online so I sent him a message and he was down for it.
When he had done the vocals and the stuff came back and I heard it, I was just WOW! Damn, it was perfect, so good and in my opinion maybe the best vocals he’s done, at least in a long time. With that done the circle was complete. That was the absolute highlight that year. Hard to beat. Every time I hear that song it’s with a smile.
Did you go as far as studying which amps and tunings and so on Bill Steer and Mike Amott used on Necroticism so you could get a sound as close to the original as possible?
Nah, not really. Let me see… Let me take it from the beginning. On the first album, it was mostly about getting that brutal old school tone on the guitars, mixing together the Swedish (minus the HM-2 pedal though), Finnish, and the messy UK tone. I used a low budget guitar, Harley Benton LP model with 046 strings tuned down in A standard. I love to play with that tuning and the note bendings/vibratos sounds great. The strings are very sloppy though haha. I actually used the same guitar and tuning on Necrotic Lust. I knew what amp they used for Heartwork but never investigated what they used on Necroticism. It wasn’t that important — most important is to have a good tone that suits the whole production. Except for harmony guitars I tracked one left and one right since it sounded disharmonic adding more guitars with those floppy strings.
When I started to write the songs for Catharsis, I tuned that guitar down even more, might have been in G. Imagine how loose those strings were to play on haha…geez…. It sounded awesome but after a while I came to the conclusion that the riffs lost too many details. It would have worked on the first albums. So I took my Gibson LP, stringed it with 056 and tuned it in B, then the riffs got what they deserved. It’s no secret amp sims were used on the first albums and it is on Catharsis, I tested several killer amps before and when I started to mix the album but it never sounded correct until I checked Ugritone stuff and got their Rektifier – that’s how it’s spelled. BAM! Nailed it!
Tracked two guitars left and two right. One at each side in the background with a different tone. Except that it was a dual rectifier amp sim I didn’t intentionally do anything to copy Steer’s sound, it was tweaking to get it right only.
The name Consumption is rather simple but did you pick it up because it was related to the actual act of consuming something/someone or simply because it started with the letter C like some UK band you may be aware of…?
Jon came up with that name long before this thing. I’m not sure but it could have been for what got named Crossbow Suicide. When I needed a name, my first choice was Pus, although after a while I realized it wasn’t good enough. So I went through my sketch pad and there was Consumption and I had as well drawn a logo. Memory as a goldfish sometimes haha.
At the end of the day, where does that lead us? I mean, after three albums where the lines in between sincere homage and tribute-in-not-so-disguise, what do you do next? Did you prove what needed to be proven? That you could ‘do a Carcass’?
Good question. Who knows?! I’m very sure there will be more Consumption written but what the sound on it will be we will be aware of then. It may mean evolving forward or maybe more grind, filth. I don’t know, we’ll see. It’s exciting, isn’t it? I’ll see when I’m on it again, and now, since last summer actually I’ve had writing cramp, writing new own stuff, but I ain’t bitter. I have a bunch of stuff on the table to finish and as well doing a lot of guitars on other projects. It’s flattering you said ‘do a Carcass’ since I’ve felt the whole time and heard my music as influenced by Carcass.
Knowing how productive you are (besides Consumption, he has contributed guitar solos to Revolting and Leper Colony’s latest albums and just released a new Wombbath) what are your next projects?
I’ve got many things happening. But one of the two I’ve invested the most in lately is the next Reek album, minus Rogga Johansson but now with Markus Makkonen from Sadistik Forest handling the vocals. It’s a fun album, a bit unique and different from the first two since I’ve added even more Edge Of Sanity and Dismember to this death n’roll pot.
I’ve also got a brand-new thrash project called Align whose first song we’ve just put online. Last year, I felt the urge to tackle what Testament, Exodus or Forbidden were doing in the ’80s, something I haven’t touched upon prior. What really made a difference is that Jörgen Borglin from Megalomania is doing the vocals and his demented performance really is something different. We have a six-song EP ready and should be hunting down a potential label anytime soon.
https://www.facebook.com/consumptionsweden#
https://dusktone.bandcamp.com/album/catharsis