L-R: Thomas Ohlsson, Rogga Johansson
(On December 19th Emanzipation Productions released This Life Is A Grave, the latest album by Rogga Johansson’s long-running melodic death metal band Dead Sun. And that event led Zoltar to contact Rogga for the interview you’ll find below. We’ve stitched in some of Dead Sun’s new music too, which is well worth your time.)
Oh yeah. Rogga Johansson. Like again. I know what you’re thinking: with no less than 48 (!) bands/projects listed as ‘active’ on his metal archives page, and don’t get me started on those considered ‘inactive’ as there are as many, it may be hard sometimes from an outsider point of view to take the man seriously. I mean, who does have 48 bloody different aliases, especially since in most cases it more or less is to do the same kind of chuggin, old-school and full of ‘ugh!’ style of death metal whose foundations were laid out by his main band PAGANIZER back in 1998? Isn’t it all the same all over again?
Well, as one of the few psychos who own, if not all, say, most of his works (give or take, over 120 + albums dude), I (slighty) beg to differ. Yep, you need first of all to be a sucker like me for this brand of Swedish mid-tempo rudeness but believe me when I tell you you’ll find different flavors here and there, that is if you know where to look.
Case in point being DEAD SUN: next to his solo albums or EYE OF PURGATORY, this is probably as close as ‘melodic death metal’ goes, Rogga Johansson-style. Meaning: catchy as fuck, because let’s face it, the man knows a thing or two about coming up with instantly memorable in-your-face crusty riffs. Yes, This Life Is A Grave is their (his?) official ninth full-length, but next to the criminally overlooked 2019 Night Terrors one of their best under that moniker. Plus it’s DEAD SUN’s first under the banner of Emanzipation Productions, who already has a long history of partnership with Mr. Johansson thanks to STASS or THORIUM.
So come on, don’t be shy, come on and have a taste!
Rogga, in the great scheme of things, where does DEAD SUN stand in your vast discography? Would you say that next to your solo albums and EYE OF PURGATORY it stands as, let’s say, your most commercial/accessible (commercial in a death metal sense, that is) project to date?
Well yeah, why not, it surely is easier to listen to than most my other projects and bands. Actually, personally, DEAD SUN is besides PAGANIZER what I like most to do. I started DEAD SUN back in 1996 and since then I have always enjoyed coming back to this band, as it’s really something that comes very natural to me. It’s simple music, but to me it’s also very filled with emotion.
You formed that project way back in 1996. Why? Wasn’t it some kind of continuation of CARVE, one of your earliest DM outfit next to PAGANIZER?
Back then, when PAGANIZER was still called TERMINAL GRIP, I really just felt the need to not just play basic death metal. I wanted to do something more melodic, I’ve always loved bands like THE SISTERS OF MERCY and LAKE OF TEARS for instance, and I’ve always been drawn to this simplistic very melodic and still dark and ominous sound.
Are ‘melodic death metal ‘ dirty words according to you?
No, not really, but these words make me more think of, let’s say, the Gothenburg sound. It’s the same as some people call gothic death metal but this makes me think more of epic female-fronted bands. My feeling is more rooted really in the ’80s gothic, and then I just was able to play death metal, and that’s why it sounds the way it does. So I don’t really know what to call it but sure, melodic death metal is pretty much what it sounds like I guess.
Was it from the get-go a solo adventure? Or did you try at first to put together a proper line-up, like you did back then for PAGANIZER or CARVE?
From the start it was me and Andreas, who was back then also in TERMINAL GRIP and PAGANIZER. But then it just evolved that I continued on my own really. I do not feel that I need anyone else when I do DEAD SUN, it’s very much something that is derived from my feelings. So often I have used drum-machine and in the later decades I have used session drummers often as well.
Who played first next to you in DEAD SUN? Was Mathias Fiebig your very first proper drummer? Wasn’t he still playing in PAGANIZER back then?
As mentioned before, Andreas was with me first; on the first demo I wrote two songs and he did one. After that Fiebig was briefly there too, as a few years later but really just a session drummer basically. As we played in PAGANIZER he gladly helped out to record DEAD SUN material with me.
Did you have a specific frame for DEAD SUN? Meaning that you had a firm concept for DEAD SUN? Or was it ‘just another Rogga project’?
Well, back then, it surely wasn’t just another Rogga project haha, as I only had DEAD SUN and PAGANIZER. And still it isn’t, as besides PAGANIZER, this is the band I feel most for really. I don’t have any concept at all for DEAD SUN, it’s more that I can write whatever I want, everything really will fit into this band, as in the end it’s made to sound like DEAD SUN anyways. It’s a nice feeling to have.
Why did you wait until 2013 to release your first proper DEAD SUN album? Then again, The Clockwise Charade ain’t even an actual album isn’t it?
Well through the years I just had DEAD SUN like my own little thing really. I recorded demos every other year here and there, just for my own pleasure. And then many years later I felt it could be nice to actually get all the stuff released, through a few collection albums mostly, and then I simply felt that it would be nice to start doing proper albums, making DEAD SUN a real more proper band.
In 2019 and again in 2021 you released not one but two DEAD SUN albums. How come? Does it mean that you’re the kind of guy who releases an album as soon as he’s got ten songs ready?
Some releases have new material and then old material added as well as bonus, so that’s why there might be closer between them. And then of course yeah, when I have material I like to release it if there is anyone interested in doing it. DEAD SUN is very easy and fun for me to write, it’s like meditation almost, the songs flow very easy.
Until the new one, what would you say is the definitive DEAD SUN album and why?
Night Terrors I think, it’s a very good representation of DEAD SUN. But then again, most releases are that as well, but I think Night Terrors is my fave so far, until the new one that is haha.
If I’m not mistaken, the new album has no proper guitar solos and each track is very compact, none being longer than three minutes and forty-one seconds. Was it a conscious decision? To make it even more accessible?
The previous album, Soul Diseased, had a huge amount of guest solos and layered melody work. It was very cool, but in the end it didn’t feel like it was what is really DEAD SUN. So now I just made it all about what I like it to be, basic melodic and dark. And with a catchy feeling which would make you feel it’s a proper song that you would like to come back to and listen to again.
Following that thread, it seems that you on purpose delivered here more articulate and less guttural vocals, am I right?
I think I’ve mostly done so in DEAD SUN always, yes. It is not my typical growl at all. I think it fits better with the music, and makes the stories of the lyrics easier to hear as well.
Is Thomas Ohlsson your new ‘go-to’ drummer whenever you feel the need? I mean, at some point, you were doing all your projects/bands with Brynjar Helgetun. Then it was Jon Rudin for a while. And then Thomas…
Haha yeah I burn them out right? No but honestly Thomas is a great guy and has indeed been the go-to guy lately, but I still work a lot with Jon as well. That me and Brynjar haven’t worked together for a long time is because he’s had some physical issues, carpal tunnel I think. So he has not been doing much drumming at all the last years. These days he mainly does vocals in his own band LIKLUKT, where he also plays drums.
In the vast Rogga Johansson universe, where does DEAD SUN stand? I mean, you’ve always been adamant about PAGANIZER being your priority but what about this one?
If PAGANIZER is my priority and the only band I play live with, then you can say DEAD SUN is my retreat, my vacation from other bands I’m doing. DEAD SUN always feels fun to return to and make songs that I feel are more rooted in emotion than a need to make it heavy or pounding.
Would you say that DEAD SUN is a good entry point for whoever wants to discover your music?
It depends I guess, if that person is more into more brutal stuffs they might be scared away by DEAD SUN haha. But yeah, I think it could be a good starting point, as it really shows how it all came together and then went on to stuff like my albums under my own name Rogga Johansson. Those albums are surely a pure mix of PAGANIZER and DEAD SUN really, being more brutal but also trying to incorporate an epic melodic feel often.
In November, the new PUTREVORE came out, the heavily downtuned ‘ugly’ project with Dave Rotten from AVULSED on vocals. Is it the total opposite of DEAD SUN?
Haha yes! PUTREVORE is by far the most brutal stuff I do. It is the total opposite indeed of DEAD SUN. Dave simply told me to stop making Rogga riffs and make something truly brutal, and so I tried and this is how it turned out, as PUTREVORE. I actually hope there are people out there who appreciate both of these bands of mine together.
Let me guess: how many new releases/bands/projects/whatnot have albums ready for the next months or so?
A few haha. ROGGA JOHANSSON, THOSE WHO BRING THE TORTURE, EYE OF PURGATORY, HOUSE BY THE CEMETARY, PAGANIZER, BONE GNAWER… So a few yes… But some of these albums have been laying around quite a while, I think the EYE OF PURGATORY album is four five years old at least.
https://www.instagram.com/deadsunsweden/
https://roggajohansson.bandcamp.com/album/this-life-is-a-grave
https://emanzipation.dk/dead-sun/